


Dragons and Men (aren't very good friends)

by im_dying_inside



Series: Teenagers and Quests (are the very best) [2]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: AS A SHIP NAME, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Crutchie doesn't deserve his life, F/F, I just realized, Kidnapping, M/M, Oscar and Morris are NOT good people, Snyder is a literal Spider, THEY DONT HAVE BELMER, We hate Snyder in this house, What Was I Thinking?, albert really misses race, and a sword that's shaped like a cross, bad words, because Spot has a potty mouth, blush has a pda problem, but its here, buttons has a giant sewing needle on his back, davey spends a lot of time being terrified, davey's therapist is denton, david wanted to be a liBRARIAN, elmer's a gardener bc why not, finch and blink would die for their boyfriends, finch loves birds, haha morris and oscar are assholes, his name is Papes and I'd die for him, i mean dRAGONS, i'm updating these tags as i update the fic so yeah, is roger a walmart version of spot, jojo has magical plant powers, literally every single newsie, or is spot the walmart version of roger, platonic ralbert, race has a fear of being powerless, romeo's a fairy, romeo's too gay, sarah and kath are in LOVE, sarah is the mom friend, specs is a librarian, subtlety? who's she?, tbh specs is too, the OC is a bird, the delanceys are drama queens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-09 15:20:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17409329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_dying_inside/pseuds/im_dying_inside
Summary: When Prince Antonio finds out he's been kidnapped, he becomes snarky to his kidnappers, befriends someone who's associated with said kidnappers and manages to get injured in more ways than thought possible.Now it's up to an impossibly large cast of characters to free the prince before he does anything dumb.





	1. My Best Friend Got Kidnapped By Dragons (and now I need your help)

**Author's Note:**

> hi yes this is a story that I wrote because the lack of fantasy AU's in this fandom is making me do a bigg sadd. I'm also posting this because I have severe anxiety over posting stuff, and I'm just forcing myself to post this so I can finish a freaking fanfiction for once.
> 
> EDIT: My mom just called this fic a "Fandom Bill" so that's the new name for fanfictions i'm sorry i dont make the rules, she does

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Mention of Underage Drinking, Kidnapping Mentions, Swears

The Kingdom of Manhattan had outlawed alcohol years ago, respectively ending the careers of many bar owners. However, when you live in a kingdom as big as Manhattan, you learn about those secret hiding places. By far, the most popular bar was the Bowery, run by Medda Larkin. It was known for being a family run bar, with Medda's underaged children serving as waiters or busboys sometimes. 

This bar was the place for many people to meet up, including other services that were banned by King Pulitzer. If you were a prostitute, drug dealer or a hitman, you could go to the Bowery without the fear of being caught. However, this time, the person waiting in a sticky booth was not a hitman. No, he was a mercenary.

The word mercenary can be described as a person who works or acts for money. This mercenary is more like… a very petty ex-knight with several bones to pick. His name is Sean Conlon, and he’s getting very impatient.

Sean Conlon cracked his knuckles for the millionth time. It was one of the few nervous ticks that the Order let him keep. Now, though, he’s not in the order. If he wanted to whistle, he could whistle. Sean did not want to whistle, because he was impatient. Maybe he could tap his foot instead.

He stared at a clock hanging on a wood-paneled wall. _It’s a fancy-schmancy place, that’s for sure, what with all of those fancy scenic paintings around._ The booth he was sitting in was sticky and wobbly, but still comfortable enough.

It was bad that he had to be in a bar to get his next assignment, Sean hates bars. It’s getting even worse now his patron was running late. _People in this kingdom really seem to undervalue mercenaries_.  Sean was just about ready to order a pint of ale and leave, when a red-headed boy came running up to him.

The boy looked to be about his age, barely in his teenage years. He was wearing a jacket with the royal crest on it that was very tight on him. Using his years of observance, Sean concluded that the jacket did not belong to the boy.

The two teenagers locked eyes together, and for a few moments, just… stared at each other. Red-headed boy, which was what Sean would call him, looked at Sean rather suspiciously.

“Are you Sir Sean?” the boy asked, sounding more like an interrogator than a teenager. Sean nodded his head, continuing to stare at the boy. “I’m Albert DaSilva, right hand man to the prince. Sorry about the wait, there were some duties I had to attend to.”

Sean stuck out his hand for a handshake, like most professionals do. Instead of normally reciprocating the handshake, Albert took his hand and spat in it. _What the hell…_ Albert’s face turned as red as his hair before he wiped the spit from his hand. After the most awkward handshake that Sean hopes he never has to relive, Albert takes a seat across the booth from him.

“So… uh, Albert, what can I do fer ya?” Sean asked the other boy, hoping to get down to business. He’d always kept it short and sweet with patrons.

Albert gave the most dramatic sigh Sean had ever heard. “Prince Antonio’s gone missing, and nobody’s doin nothin’ bout it!” Albert exclaimed. Sean was actually shocked with how quickly the boy’s accent changed. _Did he just say the prince is missing?_ “Ise been tryin ta convince King Pulitzer, but he ain’t doin’ jack shit!” His voice got louder and louder, until it caught the ear of another man in the bar.

“Did someone say my name?” the man asked, walking closer to the booth that Sean and Albert were sitting at. “I swore someone said my name.”

Sean sighed, annoyed with how many interruptions were happening right now. _Fuckin’ Kelly playin his fuckin games._ “No, Kelly, nobody said your name,” Sean replied.

The man had now reached the booth, and was nudging Sean over so he could sit down at the booth too. “Aw, Spotty, Ise just bein’ alert an’ shit!”

“Spotty?” Albert giggled. Sean shot the other two a death glare. _I swear to fucking god it will be a miracle if I don’t kill Kelly right now._

The man gave Sean a smirk, and stuck his hand out to Albert. “Jack Kelly at your service.” Albert took the hand, and gave a not so awkward shake. “Ise a pro at annoyin’ Spotty Boy.”

“Jack Kelly, would you please leave this booth?” Sean bit out, barely hiding his anger. Jack took one look at him, and shook his head. _We’re playin it the hard way, huh?_ “ _Cowboy_ , I’m doing business,” Sean said, barely hiding his smirk as Jack recoiled at his old nickname. Within a few seconds, Jack was out of the booth.

Albert stared at Sean with a confused look on his face. He was probably thinking something along the lines of _what the fuck? Who’s Jack? Spotty?_ Sean decided to settle those thoughts. “My nicknames’ Spot. You can call me Spot, but not Spotty. Under no circumstances are you to call me Spotty.”

“Yeah, I gets it. Antonio liked ta be called Race,” _Huh, that's weird..._ “Coulda had a million nicknames, but he chose Race. But ya couldn't call him Tony, he said he’s saving that one fer that special someone,” Albert replied. “Speakin’ of R— Antonio, he’s gone missin,” Sean nodded. Albert had already mentioned that Prince Antonio had gone missing. “Youse is gonna get him back.” Albert added on.

“What? No way, send the Royal Army to do it or somethin’, cuz I ain’t goin!” Sean exploded. “Ise leavin, this was a waste of my time,” he muttered, standing up to leave.

‘Wait!” Albert begged. “Please, youse my last hope. Pulitzer doesn’t care ‘bout ‘im, neither do those army assholes. I need youse to do this, please!” Albert pleaded. _Pathetic._ Sean didn’t respond. “Do it or you’ll be charged with treason, _puta_.”

 _Good to know the kid’s got chutzpah._ Sean turned around, a smirk on his face. “Ise in,” he said. Albert spat in his hand, and held it out to Sean. It was still very, very disgusting to Sean, but he did the same, and they shook on it. “Got any information bout where he is?”

Albert nodded. “Yeah, these two dragons really have it out for him. Pro’lly kidnapped ‘em. They’se called Oscar an’ Morris Delancey. That’s all I can say.” Albert turned to leave. “Good luck…” the boy said. “Please bring ‘em back,” he whispered. Sean nodded.

The redheaded boy left, and Sean stood up from the booth. Sauntering over to Jack, he slapped the taller boy on the back _hard._ Jack flinched, and raised his arm up to sock his attacker. When he saw Sean, he transformed his balled fist into a middle finger. “That’s fer callin’ me Spottie. Now go fix me up some food, Ise goin’ on an adventure.”


	2. The Dragons That Kidnapped Me Smoked My Cigar (they're huge assholes)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We find out what happened to Antonio after he was kidnapped, meet two mean dragons, a nice human boy and a very mean human spider hybrid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Slurs (that are censored), Kidnapping, Swear Words and Slavery Via Leg Magic™
> 
> So apparently my creative genius is fueled by y'all, because the amount of hits/kudos that I got inspired me to write the next chapter, so thaNK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

When you go to sleep in a castle, you generally expect to wake up in a castle as well. It makes much more sense than waking up to blackness, and realizing that you’ve been kidnapped. Which is exactly what happened to Prince Antonio Higgins.

He went to bed in his room and woke up from a hearty jostle. “Five more minutes, Albie,” he moaned, wanting more sleep. He hadn’t slept that well the night before. Another jostle. “Fuckin’ fine, Albert DaSilva. I guess if that’s how we’re playing it—” Antonio wasn’t seeing anything, except for black. “Haha, very funny DaSilva. Let go of my hands, an’ remove yer hand from my eyes.” No response.

That’s when Antonio Higgins realized he was either blind or kidnapped. “Shaddup,” a voice yelled at him. Definitely kidnapped. “Stop talking or we’ll make ya pay.”

Prince Antonio Higgins was not enjoying himself right now. He couldn’t see or move his hands, the ride to wherever he was going was extremely bumpy. _What a nice way to treat a prince._ “Excuse me?” he asked, hoping that the voice was still there. He had no bearing of his surroundings, except for the fact that he was in something made of burlap. Probably a sack.

“Yeah?” the voice asked. “Whaddya want?” it added. Antonio shifted his arms awkwardly, hoping to relieve the ache in his shoulders. The fabric against his skin made him realize that he was still wearing his nighttime clothing, which would be rather inconvenient to him. _I want a lot of things. My cigar, my clothes, my freedom. Basic shit like that._

Someone shoved whatever unit of containment Antonio was in, and another voice spoke up, a little higher than the first. “He said what d’ya want?” the voice repeated slowly like it was talking to a small child. _Hey, fuck you, dude!_

The lump inside of the sack wiggled around some more. “I just wanna know…” he started, “What the actual fuck are you doing?” A punch to the sack. _Ouch, that hurt…_ “Seriously, why me? My dad hates me, it’s not like he’ll pay a ransom for me,” Antonio added.

Instead of politely releasing him, and letting him go back home, Antonio heard laughter. “You ain’t what we want, dumbass,” the second voice said, gaining a darker tone. “We want Katherine.”

“Aw hell no! Release me right now, and I might spare you from getting your asses royally kicked. You even think about touching Kath, and I’ll murder you!” Antonio screamed, thrashing about wildly. However, when you’re in a sack, blinded and with your hands tied behind your back, there’s no way you could murder someone.

His kidnappers didn't respond for a while, and Antonio started to get concerned, Until the air around him started to hit his sack faster and faster and faster. Antonio felt himself falling. He screamed for his life, fearing that he might hit the ground. “Help!” he shouted, moving around. But instead of dying, his blindfold was being removed. The light nearly blinded Antonio, but what he was staring at was even worse. In front of him were the two ugliest dragons Antonio had ever seen. “Who… who are you?” he asked the dragons.

It was in that moment that Antonio truly realized how powerless he was. Back in the castle, he had at least a little bit of respect to his name. It was his title, and his title only that kept the servants from causing him strife every single day. But here, here his name didn’t matter. These dragons could do whatever they wanted, with no repercussions, no fears. It was terrifying.

“Why should we give that answer to ya?” one of the dragons asked. He was taller than the other one. “We’se your kidnappers, ain’t we? I don’t know if we gotta tell our names. What d’ya think, Oscar?” The other dragon, who Antonio assumed was Oscar sighed.

“Goddamnit Morris, you really are a dumb fucker.” The two dragons stared at each other, ready to fight. Antonio decided he should probably step in.

“Um, Morris? Oscar? Where am I?” he asked. Both dragons glared at him. Oscar stepped closer to Antonio, and Antonio could smell a Cuban cigar. _He fucking didn’t._ “Did you fucking smoke my cigar?” Antonio demanded. Oscar stepped back in shock, not expecting the response he was given. “Yeah. It was old as hell, not a good smoke,” Oscar responded. _I’ll fucking kill him the fucking bitch._ “But that’s not the point. The point is that you’re comin with us, right Morris?”

Morris nodded and walked closer to Antonio, grabbing the prince’s bound hands, and forcing them upwards into a sort of frog-marching position. Antonio struggled against Morris’s grip, his arms were on fire by now. That didn’t deter the dragon that much, as the next thing Antonio felt was the cold blade of a knife against his neck. “Walk,” Morris ordered, giving Antonio’s arms a little shove.

Stumbling forwards, Antonio tried to look at his surroundings while he walked, but was failing pretty miserably. He knew he was in the mountains, and that he was far, far away from the Kingdom of Manhattan. But with his hands behind his back and a knife to his throat, Antonio Higgins was pretty much useless.

By the time the three had reached their destination, Antonio’s neck was bleeding a small bit, from a little run in with that knife. “Is this… a cave?” Antonio asked, confused as all hell.

“Yeah. What is it too filthy fer ya royal highness?” Morris asked, shoving Antonio to his knees. He was so ashamed, that all he could do was look down at the ground. “I’m so sorry sir,” he mockingly added. “Please forgive me,”

“Ay, cut it out guys!” a new voice said, accompanied by a crutch. Antonio looked up, to see a short boy with blond hair limping towards him. At least, Antonio thought he was a boy. “He’s not even the one you want, stop bein so rude,” Antonio gave a thankful look to his savior, who gave him a small wink back. “Crutchie Morris at yer service.”

The two boys smiled at each other, before being interrupted by a very large spider. However, instead of looking like a regular spider who was enlarged, this one looked like a horrifying cross between a spider and a centaur. He was big and looked angry. “Oh, shut up cr*p. Nobody cares who ya are,” the spider shoved Crutchie to the floor without a second thought. “Oscar, Morris, did you fools manage to do something right, and bring him back?”

“Yes, sir,” Oscar replied, keeping his answer short and sweet. _Kinda like I do with Pulitzer. Huh._ The old spider stepped dangerously close to Antonio and picked him up by the collar. Antonio didn’t even struggle. _Weak, weak, weak!_

“He’s a bit of a fighter, surprisin’ fer a royal,” Oscar added. The old spider chuckled. “Really? He doesn’t seem that feisty around me, does he?” the spider grabbed Antonio’s chin with his fingers, gripping them hard. “Maybe the little prince’s been put in his damn place,” the spider said. Antonio, whose collar was still held captive by the spider, managed to spit at the spider. The giant arachnid looked ready to kill Antonio in a few seconds flat.

Luckily, Crutchie had managed to get himself off of the ground by now and was staring at the spider. “C’mon Mister Snyder, he ain’t worth it! Ya wants the Princess, not the Prince,” the young boy begged. Snyder snarled at the boy, and Crutchie limped away in fear.

“He’s right, though.” With those words, Snyder took Antonio and dropped him in a metal cage. Hitting the ground with a thud, Antonio winced in pain as the affects of his kidnapping finally kicked in. _God fucking damn that hurts. A lot_. “Cr*pple, you can take care of locking him up, since you care ‘bout ‘im so much. Fin’lly getcha to toughen up, rough up a few prisoners. Maybe then I’ll release that leg a’ yours.” Even from a far away distance, Antonio could see the sadness in Crutchie’s eyes. It took a few moments for the other boy to reach Antonio.

In his hands were a set of hand manacles and foot irons. Antonio shivered in fear because he knew that those things hurt. With his daily visits to the dungeon, he’d learned plenty about torture devices. Never in a million years did he think _he_ would be the tortured one.

Crutchie held out a knife and cut Antonio’s ropes away. He shoved a cream at the prince. “Sorry ‘bout this Prince Antonio. Can’t really do nothin’ bout it,” Crutchie started, shoving a cream towards Antonio. “Here, it’s not much, but it’ll help ya out a bit. Made it myself,” Crutchie explained while Antonio rubbed the cream on his rope-burned wrists.

“Why are ya here, Crutchie?” Antonio asked as the boy was putting his hands in manacles. He winced at the feeling of metal on his wrists. “You seem a hell of a lot nicer than those other three, plus youse a human. Why are ya here?”

Crutchie gave a sigh that made him sound older than time itself. _Kid don’t deserve this._ “Oscar and Morris are my brothers… step-brothers. They came ‘ere with my Uncle Wiesel, and joined Snyder. Problem is they took me too. Never liked me enough to care, so they’se fine with Snyder keeping me here. We came here when I was 10, so I supposes I'se gotta be 15 An’ he’s got complete control over my leg, got it all magicked up. Can’t leave without it.”

Staring down at the other boy’s leg, Antonio noticed veins of purple light running up and down the twisted limb. He shivered just thinking about it. _Nobody should have to suffer through this._ “Damn, sounds hard as hell, kid. I'm sorry.”

Crutchie nodded at Antonio. "I'se used to it by now. Could be worse, an' I'm thankful for what I gots," 

Antonio paused for a minute. “You can call me Race, because I think we’re gonna be friends.”

Crutchie gave Antonio the widest smile in the world. It was at that moment that Antonio decided that he would die for Crutchie. _He doesn’t deserve this. Well, neither do I, but he’s fucking innocent! He’s like, 15, he doesn't deserve this shit! Wait... I'm 15, I don't deserve it neither!_  “Really Pri— I’m sorry, Race?” he asked, still in shock that a prince would want to talk to him.

“Yeah, and since we’se friends, that means I help you, right?” Antonio asked. Crutchie nodded vigorously. “Okay, so I’se got a plan…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I lied, I said I'd update every Sunday, but it's Monday... so I really need to stop setting these boundaries that I break the next day. The new 'update schedule' is now: A chapter every Sunday, guaranteed, and random spontaneous chapters throughout the week. 
> 
> Also Also, I'm debating whether to do Finch/Albert and Buttons/Elmer or Albert/Elmer and have Finch and Buttons be minor characters. I'm also wondering if I should include Blink/Mush as well? Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear your opinion! 
> 
> Peace out boy scouts!


	3. Turns Out My Brother Has Friends And My Handmaiden Knows Them (how didn't I see this before?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine just wants to find her brother again, but her father refuses to search for him. After talking with her handmaiden, running into Antonio's servant and meeting a rather... odd librarian, Katherine realizes that she's missed out on a lot of things that happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! I wrote this chapter a day ago, but decided to post it today. Finals are coming up for me in the next three days, so I might take a bit of a break so I don't completely die. Probably not though, because I've already planned out two more chapters. I'm considering making this an entire universe with head-canons, one-shots and fluff stories because why not.

Princess Katherine Ethel Pulitzer was beyond pissed. First of all, someone had the audacity, the nerve to steal her brother away from her. Then, they had to make it worse by sending her a ransom note. Who does that? It’s pretty common knowledge that Antonio isn’t liked by King Pulitzer, why’d they have to kidnap him? Why not her?

Speaking of King Pulitzer, Katherine was in his royal office right now, screaming her head out at him. “Father, he’s your son! You can't just sit there and do nothing!” Katherine screamed at him. Her father gave her a deadly stare, but Katherine wasn’t slowing down. “He’s a 15 year old with no defenses. None. We have to do something!”

“Now, now Kitty,” King Pulitzer said. Katherine ruffled at the use of her pet name. “Antonio will be fine. I’ve already had his servant go find someone… to retrieve him. He’s probably having a hissy fit again,”

“Father, his room smelled like a cigar,” Katherine tried to reason with him.

King Pulitzer laughed. “He always carries around that damned cigar sweetie. It’s clear that he’s just taking a break. Relax, he’ll be fine,” Pulitzer reassured his daughter.

“Antonio never smoked that cigar. It was his lucky charm in poker! Someone took it because they took him!” Katherine exploded again.

It was at this moment that Hannah, servant to the king came bustling in. The older woman huffed, gathering the attention of the other two people in the room. “Sire, we’ve just received a ransom from…” she paused, reading something quickly, “The Dragon Kingdom? Huh, wonder what they have that we want?” she asked herself.

King Pulitzer glared at the woman. “That is none of your business, Hannah,” he bit out. The secretary whimpered and gave a small nod. “Give it here,” he demanded.

In a split second decision, Katherine grabbed the paper from Hannah and ran out of the office. She could hear her father’s indignant screams behind her, but she didn't care. She was nearly halfway down the hall, when she was, stopped by a pair of kind arms. “Kat, where are ya running off to?” a girl’s voice asked. Katherine turned around and was greeted by the smiling face of Sarah Jacobs, her handmaiden.

“Dad got a ransom note for Antonio, and I need to do some research on dragons,” Katherine replied, ready to run to the library. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, dragons?” Sarah asked before the dawning realization hit her. “Dragons, huh? What do they want with Antonio?” Katherine shrugged because she didn’t know either. She has no clue what she’s doing. “Well, what did King Pulitzer say?”

Katherine sighed. Her meeting with her father did nothing but strain her vocal cords, and up her stress by a million percent. “Not very well. He doesn’t want to do anything! Like, who does that to their son?” Katherine lamented, still reeling from the fight. Sarah didn’t respond, her words could have been counted as treason. “Come on, let’s go to the library, maybe the librarian can help us.”

The two girls walked down the empty halls of the Empire Castle, towards the Royal Library. About halfway there, a boy ran into Sarah. “Hey, what gives?” Sarah asked the boy. The person looked up, revealing that the boy was Albert. His cheeks were stained with tears, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “Oh, Albert,” Sarah murmured softly, holding her arms out for a hug. Katherine was getting the feeling that she was missing out on a relationship between the two of them. Albert practically ran into Sarah's arms, sobbing.

“He’s been kidnapped!” Albert choked out, his eyes trained on Sarah. “Nobody’s doin’ nothing, ‘cept for me! Not even that bastard Pu—” he noticed Katherine standing next to Sarah. “Uh… oh fuck… King Pulitzer…” Albert added, trying to save his sentence from directly criticizing the King in front of the princess.

Katherine gave a small giggle and nodded. “He’s a bastard, don’t worry Albert,” she responded. The redhead stared at her, eyes wide and still red from tears. The two girls looked at each other, pity in their eyes. It was common knowledge to the entire that Albert and Antonio were best friends. Almost everyone looked down upon their friendship because Albert was a lower class boy and Antonio was a prince, but the two boys didn’t care.

Katherine felt the pain that Albert was feeling. Even if she wasn’t as close with him as she would have liked, he was still her little brother, she still loved him. “Albert, the two of us know where Antonio is,” the redhead perked up at this. “Dragons took him,” Albert deflated a bit, clearly losing a bit of his faith.

Always the savior, Sarah butted in. “We’re gonna go see if the librarian, Spencer knows about dragons, wanna join?” she asked. Albert gave a nod so violent that Katherine thought his head would fall off. Sarah laughed at the violent nod, and Albert gave a sheepish smile. “Let’s go.”

The unlikely trio walked all the way across the castle to the Royal Library, ignoring the stares of judgemental servants. As they reached the doors, Albert ran in front of the two girls and opened the door before they could say anything.

A boy with darker skin and glasses walked over to Albert. “Albert, what’re ya doin’ here? I thought youse was moping over Racer?” he asked. He noticed Sarah as well. "An' Saz! What're ya doin' here too? Youse got that Princess to tend to!" he scolded at the handmaiden.

Katherine was still wrapping her head around her brother, Antonio being referred to as Racer. After a few seconds of confusion, she finally gained enough sense to jump into the conversation.“Racer?” Katherine butted in, causing the boy with the glasses to jump a little. After regaining his balance, he dove into a hasty bow. Waving her hand, Katherine dismissed the bow rather quickly, wanting to know who Racer is. “You mean Antonio?”

The boy with the glasses shoved his elbow into Albert’s sides. “Ya didn’t tell me ya had the prinsès, troud chi!” the boy harshly whispered.

Albert slung his arm around the boy. “Relax, Specs, they're cool. They're lookin’ for Race too!” Albert exclaimed. “Well in that case… I guess it’s fine ta show ‘em the boys!” this so-called Specs exclaimed.

Katherine had had enough with these mysterious sayings and code words. “Excuse me,” she interrupted, “We’re looking for Spencer, where is he?” she asked, a bit impolitely. Albert and the boy laughed for a few good seconds. Her hands were on her hips when she said: “What’s so funny, boys?”

The boy with glasses wiped a tear from his eye and stuck out his hand. “Spencer Samuels, Princess Katherine. You can call me Specs, though,” Katherine nodded, realizing that unusual nicknames seemed to be on par with Antonio’s friend group. “Ya wanna learn ‘bout dragons?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s why we’re here,” Sarah deadpanned, a smile on her face. The two clearly had some sort of banter-filled relationship that was unknown to Katherine. Sarah must have relationships between a lot of the workers here because she knew both Specs and Albert pretty well. Katherine wasn't aware of amicable relationships between servants.

Although, Katherine was finding out that she didn’t know much about a lot of things. Her brother, her handmaiden, the servants in her own castle. Maybe she wasn't paying enough attention before, or maybe she's paying too much attention now. 

Specs gave Sarah a small nod and began to walk to a section of the library. Albert followed, with Katherine and Sarah in tow. Reaching a bookshelf in the far back, Specs pulled out the oldest book that Katherine had ever seen, and she’d seen books from before Manhattan was a kingdom. “Wow,” she whispered. “It’s so old.”

All four of them blew on the book at the same time, hoping to get rid of dust. Instead of that, they sent clouds of dust into each other’s eyes. Specs opened the book, flipping to a page covered in cursive, handwritten notes, and dark maroon splotches. “This is where we begin, the Dragon Den.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments are super duper appreciated! I love them!  
> Peace out boy scouts!


	4. I'm Going On A Journey To Save A Prince (but other people came along) PART ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spot's gotta go get some stuff from David, but Jack and Smalls decide to tag along and make his life miserable. While he's in front of the store, he has a "romantic movie moment", a reunion and nearly loses his hearing from conversations taking place over a very long distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who should be studying for her chemistry final right now? This gal! Who decided to write a new chapter for her fanfiction? This gal! Who's gonna disappoint her parents? THIS GAL!
> 
> Enjoy this... or don't... I'm not gonna tell you what to do.

Spot was still in shock at his newest quest. Searching for a kidnapped prince was _not_ the most ideal way to spend his time. However, money is money, and Spot likes money. So, here he was, walking down a cobblestone road with none other than Jack Kelly, and a horse with a cart attached to it’s back. _I think I likes the horse more._

“D’ya think he’ll be thankful fer us? Or is gonna be like one of them knight brats,” Jack asked, clearly not understanding the meaning behind a quiet road trip. One might find themselves wondering why Jack Kelly, waiter and artist was accompanying Spot. The answer is pretty simple, they were brothers. _By adoption! We aren’t blood-related or anything… thank god._

Essentially, as soon as Jack found out about the quest, he begged to join in. The only reason Spot actually let him come along was because his momma, Miss Medda made him. It still seemed unprofessional to Spot, but he couldn’t exactly claim to be a professional anymore.

“Shut up,” Spot bit out, barely able to hide his frustrations. “Youse only here because Medda made me take you,” he said, watching as Jack tried to spit out a proper response. Sighing, the former knight turned to the cart filled with supplies hat Jack insisted they take. “Smalls, you can come out now,” he said.

A small girl popped out of the cart, a cookie in her mouth. “Mmffph!” she said, which can roughly be translated to “Thanks Spot!” Spot nodded and turned his gaze back to Jack. Unsurprisingly, he had run ahead to their destination. _Maybe he’ll fall in a ditch! Then I’d be free for once in my life._ The girl behind him swallowed the cookie and jumped out of the cart. “So, what’re we doin?” she asked.

Spot sighed. What was it with his siblings and intruding on his quest. “I’m talking to the local wizard, Smalls. You’re waiting in the cart,” he replied. Smalls pouted and plopped back into the cart. She’s 12! _What does she think I’m gonna do, let her fight a dragon with me?_

The two siblings continued along the road in silence for a few more minutes. They were traveling to the local apothecary’s, Jacobs and Sons It was a small, family run business that Spot had no problem supporting. He did have a problem supporting his brother’s ridiculous crush on the teenage son, David.

“Jack! Where ya at?” Spot screamed at the road ahead of him. Jack had run off more than a few minutes ago and hadn’t returned. “O’er here, Spot!” a faint voice responded. There he is. “Ise with Davey!” _Of course._ Spot and Smalls looked at each other, sighing at their brother.

Another faint voice was heard, scolding Jack. “It’s David, Jack. Don’t call me Davey!”

Spot was ready to abandon his siblings and this reality. He would have seriously considered his options had the Jacobs and Sons store come into view. There really was no going back now, was there?

“We’ll be over in a few minutes!” Smalls screamed, causing Spot’s ears to stop working. “Tell Les I’m coming!” she added. Although his ears were now thoroughly ringing, Spot still managed to hear Les’s faint greeting. Smalls hopped out of the cart, and onto Spot’s back. Grunting in exertion and annoyance, Spot continued to walk down the road, a clingy 11-year-old on his back.

“Y’know ya gots feet, ya don’t need ta be carried,” Spot muttered, hoping Smalls would get the point. All the young girl did was bounce up and down. “But I don’t wanna walk, Spottie!” she exclaimed. Spot ignored her, choosing instead to think about his quest.

A hand appeared in front of Spot’s face. “Hello? Spottie? Ya there?”

“Yeah, jus’ thinkin, Smallsie. I’se gonna hafta do a hell of a lot of stuff ta get the prince back. Might ‘s well start plannin,” Spot replied. The young girl hummed thoughtfully, taking his words into advice.

“C’n I come?” she asked. Spot could hear the sadness in her voice, and he rolled his eyes. Classic Smalls, always using her adorableness to her advantage. With the small girl still attached to his back, he ran forwards and jumped up, spinning around the road.

“No, Medda’d kill me, you know that!” Spot exclaimed, causing Smalls to giggle. _I can’t let her go, no way in Hell._ “But she doesn’t hafta know. How about we decide once we get to the apothecary.” It was a temporary solution, but it would work for now.

There wasn’t that much more for the two of them to walk, and soon enough, they reached the apothecary. It was an old, wooden building that had aged with the years. The entire outside was covered in ivy and flowers, along with a plethora of wind chimes. Spot did appreciate the sort of chaotic appearance of the place, it matched what was inside.

Smalls jumped off of Spot’s back and ran inside as fast as her legs would take her. She’s gettin’ faster each day! “Bye Spot!” she screamed, as a young boy came running out of the store. “Les!” she exclaimed, giving the boy a hug.

“Heya, Smalls! I’ve got some brand new magic tricks I hafta show you!” Les said, reciprocating Smalls’s enthusiasm.“C’mon!” The two children ran inside as Spot watched them.

Looking around, he couldn’t spot David and Jack anywhere. “Might ‘s well unpack,” Spot mumbled to himself, turning around to go back to the cart. Not really paying attention, he meandered his way towards the horse, not noticing the woman walking directly towards him.

In a moment that reflected every single romantic story ever, the two bumped into each other. Spot looked up, to see that she was wearing a rather large pair of glasses, along with a very interesting hat. “Excuse me!” the woman said, clearly offended. Spot shrugged it off and gave a small apology. “I said excuse me!” she added.

“I’se sorry, god!” Spot spat out. The woman looked very displeased. He was ready to just walk away when he noticed the giant group of people that started to back the woman up. “Wasn’t payin’ attention. Won’t happen again,” he added.

“Sean?” a familiar voice asked. From the center of the horde of people, Albert popped out. “Why aren’t ya in the mountains?” he demanded, stepping closer with each word. There was a sense of urgency in his voice that Spot hadn’t heard before.

A girl stepped out in front of Albert and pushed him back towards the group. “Sorry Spottie, he misses Tonio,” she said. Spot knew that voice. It was the voice that had calmed him down during his nightmares, cleaning him up after fights.

“Sarah? What the hell?” Spot ran towards her, enveloping her in a hug.

“Wow, someone missed me?” she taunted. Spot broke off from the hug, flipping her off. She returned the gesture. “I have some people I want you to meet, Spottie. They’re my friends,” she gestured to the woman with the hat and glasses. “This i—”

She was interrupted by a very clear “ _Ach_ em” noise. The entire group of people turned around, coming face to face with a very annoyed looking apprentice, and a rather confused boy. “If you aren’t going to buy anything, I’ll have to ask you to leave,” the apprentice said. The entire group groaned.

“I thought family got discounts?” Sarah asked, laughing as the apprentice’s eyes grew wide. “Good to see you too, David. And you as well, Jack,” Sarah added.

David stood there for a few seconds, sputtering out bits and pieces of sentences. Jack looked at David in amusement. Literally everyone besides the two of them saw how much they were in love with each other. Once it seemed that David had collected his thoughts, he spoke. “Saz? What’re ya doin back ho— oh my god, is that Princess Katherine?” he asked, sweeping into a deep bow.

The woman with the glasses and hat took the items off, revealing none other than Princess Katherine Pulitzer. Everyone in her presence bowed hurriedly. She spoke in a clear and regal manner. “I think we have some things to talk about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all like this chapter. There'll be a Part Two sometime soon, I just don't know when. Probably Sunday, because I'm going on a retreat from Friday to Sunday. Let me know if you want to see something in this story that I haven't included, story ideas are always appreciated. I'm planning on also writing a few one shots to go deeper into character relationships, but I don't want to ruin the plot twist that I've already planned out. 
> 
> Also, I'm genuinely not sure whether I should include Blush or not. And don't get me started on Albert's relationships. I'm trying to decide if it should be Almer (Albert/Elmer) or RedFinch (Albert/Finch). Please let me know, because I'd die for both of those ships and I have an inability to chose. 
> 
> Peace out boy scouts!


	5. I’m Going On A Journey To Save A Prince (but other people came along) PART TWO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine meets a gardener, a bird keeper, and begins to search for her kidnapped brother, Prince Antonio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this on Friday, but i couldn't but here it is now  
> the next chapter will be Race focused where I just tORTURE my son  
> enjoy. or don't im not the boss of you

As soon as Specs had brought out that ginormous book, it had taken every single inch of Katherine’s willpower not to grab the damn thing and start reading it right there. There was so much knowledge! So much information! If they went at this rate forever, they’d get Antonio back in no time.

Katherine looked up to see Specs skeptical face. “What’s wrong Spen— I mean, Specs?” she asked him. Specs sighed in response, causing Katherine to lose the little hope she had.

“There’s a bit of an issue with the Dragons Den, or whatever they call it…” he began. Katherine nodded her head, hoping he would continue. “Nobody knows where it is. At all,” Specs blurted out. “There’s no way in hell we could find it in time,”

Albert looked even more depressed than he was before until a look came across his face. “Hey Specs, d’ya know anyone with things that fly real fast?” he asked. Sarah laughed, a wonderful sound to Katherine’s ears.

“Hmmm, I wonder who that could be?” she teased. “Maybe a certain someone who likes birds… and slingshots… an—” Albert cut her off with an elbow to the stomach. “Rude!” Sarah screamed, clearly joking. Katherine felt like she was missing out on something that was happening here.

Hopelessly staring at Specs, she realized that Antonio would have already done something. She couldn’t just sit still and wait for something to hit her, she had to go do it herself. “Specs, take me to whoever Albert’s talking about,” she ordered. Her voice clearly showed signs of leadership, because Specs nodded.

Albert jumped up from his seat and gave a rather child-like squeal. “Follow me, y’all!” he exclaimed, running off into the halls. Sarah and Specs followed, Sarah hiking up her skirt to run along sides Specs. Katherine just stood there.

“I’m not running,” she called into the hallway. Muttering to herself, she continued to walk down the halls, all alone after her abandonment. There were peals of laughter coming from further down. “Okay, maybe I’m running,” she said to herself, before promptly picking up her skirts and going into a dead sprint down the hall.

After what seemed like hours of running, the princess finally caught up to the other three people, who were headed into the royal garden. Katherine never really spent any time in the garden, and she was beginning to regret it. It was a beautiful garden. There was a stone path that was surrounded by purple flowers, which led up to a small pond. Across the pond, there laid the most beautiful pavilion Katherine had ever seen. It was all covered in gold and surrounded by small pools of water.

“Katherine, c’mon!” Albert’s voice broke her out of her trance. “I wanna see Finch!” he added. Katherine had no clue who on God’s Good Green Earth would be named Finch, but she followed the redheaded boy anyways. “He’s super good with birds, and he’s got amazing aim wit’ his slingshot!” Albert added, sounding like a small child talking about something they love.

“Who cares for this garden?” Katherine asked the trio. In her mind, a vague image of an old, grouchy man appeared. “It’s beautiful,” she gushed, not caring what her newfound friends would think of her. Could she call them friends? At this point, probably.

Sarah turned around and looked Katherine dead in the eyes. “He’s right behind you,” she said, in a freaked out voice. Katherine turned around, expecting the old man. Instead, she saw a boy with the biggest smile she’d ever seen.

He dove into a quick bow and then dusted his hands off on his overalls. “Hi, I’m Elmer, nice to meetcha!” he said. “I run the garden now that the old gardener’s left. Ise sure glad ya like it though!” he added. Katherine decided that he was the human version of sunshine, rainbows, and good things. “What’re ya doin here, Princess?” he asked.

Katherine awkwardly motioned to Sarah, Albert, and Specs. “We’re here to see… Finch?” she said, making it sound more like a question than an answer. “Although to be honest, I don’t know why anyone would be called Finch,”

Everyone looked at her for a few seconds, and then collectively burst out into laughter. Katherine’s mouth gaped open, wondering how these people could laugh at the princess. “C’mon Kathy, we’ll take you to Finch,” Sarah said, grabbing Katherine’s hand. The two girls stared at each other, blushing furiously. “Sorry, autopilot mode,” Sarah muttered, dropping Katherine’s hand. “I do that with my siblings,”

Katherine turned to Sarah, and gently took the handmaiden’s hand again. “I like it…” she whispered. Even though the two were in their own little world, they could hear the ‘aww’ sounds coming from the three boys. “I like it a lot…” Katherine finished.

“So do I…” Sarah responded. Specs literally leaped in between the two, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Nope not today folks, we gotta save Racer! Save the romance for later you two!” he yelled, grabbing each girl by a different arm. He pulled them through the garden, laughing as they stumbled behind him.

Elmer and Albert followed suit, and pretty soon, the group arrived at a large, metal cage. It was clearly an aviary, which Katherine wasn’t even aware the castle had. She’d really learned a lot of things since her brother got kidnapped.

Various species of birds flew around inside of the cage. Katherine was pretty sure that she saw a potoo. The only reason Katherine knows about potoos? She got interested in weird looking birds when she was 10, and retained all of her knowledge from that era in her life.

Another boy approached the group, a large peregrine falcon on his shoulders and a slingshot in his hand. “Hey y’all, what’s up?” he asked, giving his shoulder a little shake. The falcon flew off, and the boy walked closer to Albert. “Hi Albo,” he said. Albert looked like he was about to melt, and fell a little bit into Elmer. Katherine hoped he’d be okay, he seemed like a nice kid.

Elmer didn’t do anything except for push Albert back onto his feet, giving him an annoyed look. Albert glared at Elmer, before turning back to the boy.

“Hi Finch,” Albert replied. So this was the famous Finch. An ivory-billed woodpecker flew onto Finch’s shoulders. “We need your help,” Albert said. “Ya know Racer got himself kidnapped, an we know where he is,”

Finch perked up at that statement.“Really? Where is he?” the bird boy asked. Katherine was about to speak up, but Specs did it first.

“In the Dragon’s Den. We need to borrow Papes to find him,” Specs said. Finch shook his head rather rapidly.

“Nope, no way, I’m not putting my baby in danger like that,” Finch replied, turning around to go back into the aviary. “You can get someone else to do it because Papes is not going into dragon county.”

Albert stepped forwards and gave Elmer a rather obvious wink. “Aww, c’mon Finchy, don’t ya want Race back?” he pleaded, putting on the most ridiculous sad face. But it worked. Katherine saw the small smile that came across Finch’s face. “Don’cha want me to get my best friend back? Don’cha want me ta be happy?” Albert begged.

“Fine, Papes’ll go! Papes?” Finch called for the bird, or whatever else he had in store. At that moment, a pigeon flew over to sit on Finch’s shoulders. Finch smiled at the bird, who Katherine assumed was Papes. “You’se real lucky that I like Albert so much!” Finch added, staring at Katherine. She felt herself wither under his glare. Then, the boy realized his words and began to blush furiously. “I mean…”

“It’s fine Finch,” Specs said. “Send Papes out soon, we’re going to the Jacobs Apothecary,” he paused for a second, turning back to look at Sarah. “Right Sarah?”

Sarah nodded in response. “Yeah, my brothers are gonna flip when they see me,” she said, laughing. “Let’s get going, it’s a long ways away.”

The entire group of people, which was now six teenagers meandered their way across the castle, laughing and talking. Maybe Albert and Finch were staring at each other the entire way, lovesick looks on their faces. Maybe Sarah and Katherine held hands the entire time. An adventure was on the way, and there were high hopes within everyone.

The group loaded into a carriage and had a rather bumpy drive across the kingdom of Manhattan to a small apothecary shop. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood until Albert saw someone familiar outside of the apothecary. “That’s the guy I hired to save Race! Why’s he here?”

“I can go talk to him!” Katherine volunteered, ready to help out her new friends.

Specs sighed, shaking his head. “Everyone will know who ya are, Kath.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“I’ve got an idea. Specs, I’ll need your glasses. Sarah, I’ll need your shawl!” Katherine said, putting on the glasses. Sarah fastened her shawl around Katherine’s shoulders, and Elmer gave Katherine his gardening hat.

Looking like an absolute fool, Katherine daintily stepped out of the carriage and walked over to the boy. Not thinking straight, she walked right into him. “Excuse me!” she said, hoping to get a response. Nothing. “I said excuse me!” she added, hoping the boy would notice her royal stature.

He didn’t, instead choosing to respond in an awfully annoyed tone. “I’se sorry, god!” the boy said, sounding very annoyed.“Wasn’t payin’ attention. Won’t happen again,” he added. Katherine frowned. Fortunately, the rest of the group was approaching them.

Albert stepped forwards. “Why aren’t ya in the mountains?” he asked. Katherine could hear the pain in his voice. The boy was about to say something when Sarah stepped in front of Albert.

“Sorry Spottie, he misses Tonio,” she said. Katherine was shocked, because how would Sarah know this ruffian. Who goes by the name Spottie?

The boy looked shocked. “Sarah? What the hell?” He ran over to Sarah. Katherine was about to step in, but Sarah embraced the boy.

“Wow, someone missed me?” she taunted. “I have some people I want you to meet, Spottie. They’re my friends,” gesturing to Katherine, she began to introduce the princess. “This i—”

Katherine watched as another boy, who was very tall and lanky, walked over to the group. Shortly after, he was joined by yet another boy, who was shorter, and had paint stains on his hands. He had the same eyes as Sarah, so Katherine made the assumption that this was the famous David. “If you aren’t going to buy anything, I’ll have to ask you to leave,”

Sarah stepped forwards, looking at the boy with an incredulous look on her face. “I thought family got discounts?” she asked. The boy’s face contorted into a grin. "It's good to see you too, David. And you as well, Jack,"

After coming to his senses a minute later, David spoke. “Saz? What’re ya doin back ho—” the boy paused, pointing directly at Katherine. “Oh my god, is that Princess Katherine?” he stuttered, diving into a bow.

Katherine removed the glasses and hat she was wearing. Katherine froze in shock, before putting on her best royal accent. “I think we have some things to talk about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll include Blush and Belmer soon I just gotta figure things out more. Again, if you have any ideas for this story, or if there's anything you want to see, let me know, because I'd love to include it.
> 
> This is supposed to be the halfway point in this story, but I don't really know how long this'll take me. I've already planned out the next part of the series, as well as a few oneshots for y'all who want some pure fluff. 
> 
> Peace out boy scouts


	6. Don't Piss Off Your Kidnappers (i learned the hard way)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Race got kidnapped, as you might remember. He decides to do dumb things and pisses off his kidnappers multiple times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wHOS READY FOR ANGST  
> not me!!!  
> enjoy the quality soakings that race gets during this chapter, it hurt my soul to write  
> as always, enjoy the story... or don't, because i'm not the boss of you.

There was a reason Antonio called himself Race most of the time. Well, there were multiple reasons. The first meaning, he'd learned a long time ago. It didn't take a genius to realize that Race was fast. His legs were long, and he could go fast. So he ran. Ran away from everything. If he could move his legs, he would run. Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly run at the moment. The heavy manacles around his ankles prevented that.

Crutchie had been nice to him, but his niceness was always overpowered by the boy’s perpetual fear of Snyder the Spider. The Spider portion of his name was not a misnomer, no, he was an actual anthropomorphic spider. During his stay in the Dragons Den, Race learned just how cruel Snyder could be.

But right now, it was nighttime, and Race was attempting to fall asleep. It’d been a hard day for the prince, with the whole kidnapping ordeal and such. The cage that Snyder had placed him in was rather uncomfortable. It could fit him standing up, but the floor was cold metal, and there wasn’t a bed.

It was pathetic, the way Race was laying on the hard ground, his wrists and ankles trapped by metal. _Weak, weak, you’re fucking weak._ Race couldn’t get the fact that he got kidnapped out of his head. He was supposed to be stronger than this!

Closing his eyes, Race fell into a fitful dream. Black swirled around in his head, forming shapes. Shapes became people, and Race saw the dinner table from the night before. He wanted to wake up, to do something, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

_“Ya know, ya could at least invite me to the damn table!” Race yelled at his father, not caring who heard him. “Ise just as part of this family as Katherine!”_

_King Pulitzer sighed, rubbing his forehead. “You will be respectful to your father, and to your king!” the man exclaimed, standing up from his seat at the head of the table. “I will not tolerate your behavior, young man!”_

_Race huffed and stormed out of the room, not caring that his sister was calling his name. “Fuck off, Katherine!” he replied to her calls. “I don’t need you! I don’t need nobody!”_

_The scene changed, showing his father in his office. There were two people standing across from him, bulking figures that Race didn’t know. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were familiar, but he couldn’t tell. This was new… he’d never seen this story before._

_King Pulitzer handed a large stack of money to the two figures. “Get rid of him by tonight, and we’ll pull the army out of the Dragon Den,” the king said, his voice meaning business._

_The two figures nodded, and turned around, revealing the Delancey Brothers. “Pleasure doin’ business wit’ ya, King Pulitzer,” Morris said, sticking out his hand. King Pulitzer refused the shake. “We’se pretty good at dis whole kidnappin’ thing,”_

_“We’ll have him out of here by morning light,” Oscar added._ _King Pulitzer nodded, sat down, and motioned for the dragons to leave._

_The king picked up a mug and dropped it on the ground. “Goodbye Antonio,” he said to the mug. Pulitzer turned and left his office, closing the door. Race felt himself walking closer to the mug and felt his heart drop when he realized what his father had dropped. It was a mug that he’d made when he was 10. This wasn’t right, this wasn’t right, this wasn’t right, this wasn’t r—_

Sitting up from his position on the ground, Race felt himself break into a cold sweat. “That was right. My father… hates me,” he whispered, before falling asleep once again. This time, he dreamed about puppies, rainbows, and happiness.

It was nearly noon when Race woke up again. His stomach growled something fierce and he was so tired. If this was what being dead felt like, Race did _not_ want to die anytime soon. Looking around the cave, he saw the spider sitting in front of a strange, moving picture device. The device was unlike anything Race had ever seen. Snyder was drinking something from a glass bottle and talking to the Delancey Dragons. Race saw that it was his time to get his captor’s attention.

“Snyder!” Race cried out, “Ise hungry!” No response. Race began to hit the chains of his manacles against the cage keeping him captive. “Snyder!” Snyder slammed down the glass, and slowly stood up, stomping all the way over to Race’s cage.

“Shut it, brat!” Snyder responded, coming up to the cage. “You can starve to death, for all I cares,” he said. But he tossed a moldy piece of bread into the cage. “Here,”

Race scowled, not used to moldy bread. “It’s moldy,” he said, holding the bread for Snyder to return it. He was not eating moldy bread. “Get me a new slice, please,” Snyder stepped dangerously close to the cage, and Race could smell the alcohol on his breath. That must have been what he was drinking earlier.

“Eat it, or ya don’t get nothing” the spider exclaimed. Race shrunk back in his small cage, regretting his complaints. “Capisce?” Snyder asks.

“Capisco, stronzo,” Race replied, earning himself a backhanded slap across his face. “Ouch!” he exclaimed. Snyder scoffed and turned away from the boy.

A few minutes later, Crutchie came over to the cage, holding a few pieces of non-moldy bread. “It ain’t much, but it’s better than what Snyder gave ya,” the young boy explained, handing off the bread to Race. Struggling to eat the bread with his manacles, Race gave a small smile of appreciation to Crutchie.

Not much happened for the rest of the day. Morris and Oscar came by and taunted Race for a few minutes, roughing him up a little bit. Crutchie occasionally stopped by with kind words and a friendly smile. Race hadn’t seen Snyder since his incident in the morning. It was boring inside of the cage, with only Crutchie as a companion. Throughout most of the day, Crutchie was off doing whatever Snyder asked of him, leaving Race completely stranded.

He supposed he could watch Crutchie, but looking on while he struggled through physically impossible tasks wasn’t any fun. Race began to count backward from 100. Then 1,000. After his numerical escapade was over, he said his ABC’s in every single language he knew, English, Italian, French and finally Hungarian. “I’m bored!” he announced to nobody in particular.

Unfortunately, Morris and Oscar heard him. “Youse bored, huh?” they asked, eerily in sync. Race nodded, hoping they would give him something to do. Bad idea. “Why don’t we give ya somethin ta do?” Morris asked, an evil grin on his face. This is when Race should have used his common sense and said no. But as most people know, Race doesn’t have common sense.

“Yeah, ya could do that,” Race responded. The door to his cage opened, and Oscar stepped inside. Holding out his manacles to be freed, Race waited patiently for the dragons to release his wrists and ankles. Instead, a punch hit his nose, causing Race to stumble a bit. Blood dripped down his nose. Race wiped the blood with his shirtsleeve before another fist punched him in the guts. He was on the floor now, looking at the two dragons looming above him. “S— st— stop,” he begged, putting his manacled hands in front of his face.

“No,” Morris responded, kicking at Race. “Youse was bored. Now youse isn’t. Youse welcome,” the dragon added, before squatting down to Race’s level. “We don’t hafta keep you safe no more,” he whispered. Race felt his heart drop as Morris stood up.

Oscar picked the prince up by the collar, laughing as Race choked a small amount. “Let’s see how many punches you can take before blackin’ out,” the other dragon said, a smile on his face. _How could they be so cruel?_

The sound of metal hitting flesh filled the cave as the Delancey brothers continued to hit Race. _Weak, weak, weak!_ His internal monologue was insulting him over and over and over and…

All of a sudden, everything stopped. The Delancey brothers walked away, and Race laid down on the metal floor, trying to regulate his breathing. Sitting up only made him dizzy, so Race stayed on the ground. Blackness clouded his vision, and he closed his eyes… for just a few minutes.

It seemed like only minutes had passed by, but it had been hours. Slowly, Race sat up and tried to assess the damage to his body. “Dammit!” he exclaimed after feeling a particularly bad cut on his arm. “Fuckers,” he whispered, hoping that nobody could hear him.

He heard the familiar sound of a crutch coming towards him. “Pri— Race? Are you okay?” Crutchie asked. “Ise brought you a few things fer ya wounds,” Crutchie added, walking over to Race. Race pulled off his nightshirt, which was now covered in blood. “Yikes,” Crutchie murmured, wetting a cloth with water.

Cleaning the wounds wasn’t anything but painful. But Crutchie took his time with each cut, scrape, and sore. It seemed like the boy had practiced cleaning wounds for a while, and Race didn’t want to think of the reason why.

“Hey, Crutchie?” Race asked once the boy was finished cleaning his wounds. “How long was I out?”

Crutchie sighed, “A few hours at most. It’s nighttime now,” the boy replied. Race nodded. “We still gonna go through wit’ da plan?” Crutchie asked. Race nodded again.

“We gotta. I can’t stand ta see you here anymore!” Race exclaimed, his anger coming out through his words. “Tonight, as soon as Spider’s asleep, we’re hightailing it out of this dump!” And Race kept true to his word. That night, once the spider and the dragons had gone to sleep, Crutchie released Race from his manacles.

Together, the two tiptoed across the cave, with Crutchie on Race’s back. They were almost out of the cave when Race suddenly felt Crutchie’s weight leave his back. A hand grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him back towards the cave.

“Mmpfh!” Crutchie cried out, but his mouth was already covered by a large, scaly hand. It was the Delancey brothers, and they looked mad. Morris was holding Crutchie, which meant that it was Oscar who had his hands on Race. The two boys struggled against the brothers’ tight holds but to no avail.

“Lemme go!” Race exclaimed, struggling against Oscar’s strong hands.

“No way in hell are we lettin ya get out again!” Oscar replied, twisting Race’s arms behind his back. Race winced in pain as he felt all of his recently closed wounds reopen. “Let’s go,” Oscar ordered, marching Race back to the cage. He pushed Race back into the cage and stood in front of the door.

Morris and Crutchie quickly followed them. Well, as quickly as they could. With Crutchie’s leg, Morris was forced to walk slower. After a few minutes, the duo finally reached the cage. Morris shoved Crutchie in the cave too.

Taking his brother’s place at the cell door, Morris used his body as a barrier while Oscar walked into the cage with handcuffs. “Lay on yer stomachs and put yer hands behind yer backs,” he demanded, kicking at Race. “Now,”

Hesitantly, Race and Crutchie laid down on the cold floor. Placing their hands behind their backs, each boy winced as they felt cool metal around their wrists. Oscar grabbed both boys by the collars of their shirts and used another length of chain to bound their manacles to the cage bars.

“Youse ain’t leavin again, I can assure you that,” Oscar said, motioning to Morris. It seemed the dragon had left his position at the door to grab something from the cave. Race felt his heart drop when he realized what it was.

Crutchie’s crutch was in Morris’s hands. In one swift movement, the dragon broke the crutch over his right knee. The pained cry that escaped Crutchie’s mouth was horrifying. “Good luck walkin’ now, brudda!” Morris taunted, throwing the broken remnants of the crutch into the cage. “Snyder’ll deal wit ya in da mornin,” Morris added, only increasing fear in the two boys.

As the dragons walked away, Race turned to Crutchie. “I’m so sorry, Cru—”

“Stop, Race. There’s nothin’ we can do bout it now,” Crutchie said, already resigned to his fate. Both boys turned away from each other, defeated and beaten.

A small tear slid down Race’s cheeks, and with no hands to mop it up, just stayed there. “I’m so sorry, Crutchie,” the prince whispered to himself, before attempting to make himself comfortable.

Crutchie’s small voice piped up just a few feet away from him. “Hey Racer,” the boy said. Race sat up, hopeful that Crutchie would tell him that it’d all be alright. “Snyder likes it when you call him Sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY SINS! I didn't want to do this to my boys, but the story needs progression!!! I'll make it up with some Newbians and RedFinch next chapter. I've spent like... all day working on this, so I hope you liked it!
> 
> As always, leave a comment if you have any suggestions, because I love incorporating other ideas into my story!
> 
> Peace out boy scouts!


	7. A Group Of People Who Don't Know Each Other Walk Into An Apothecary (and decide to go on a quest)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David Jacobs does not know what to do with the ten other people that are inside of his apothecary shop right now. Maybe he'll invite them all on a quest despite the fact that he only knows half of the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its bitch time kiddos
> 
> okay so i woke up this morning and left to go to my busstop, before realizing that it was 9:00 instead of 8:00. so i panic thinking i've slept in or some shit. nope, they closed school for the day bc of a dumbass snowstorm. i live in wisconsin, we should be used to this shit by now. but noooo they closed school instead.
> 
> also my mom AND dad are hella sick, so we don't have any food in my house bc nobody went grocery shopping and I CANT DRIVE.
> 
> also also i had to shovel bc my father is infected and we have so many goddamn stairs like oh my freaking god. and they're wide stairs too, so i was suffering through that and my freaking hair froze. 
> 
> yeah. its been rough.

On most days, David Jacobs was perfectly content with ‘going with the flow’ as his sister liked to say. Sure, it caused him excruciating pain if he saw something going wrong, but normally he could suppress it. Of course, this is the reason David sees a therapist every Wednesday. But right now, he could really use Dr. Denton’s support.

Currently standing in front of his shop were 11 people, including him. What made it even worse was that David only knew five of them. That’s more than one half of a group that David doesn’t know. Oh, and the princess of Manhattan’s in the mix too. _Great, just great._

David stood there, frozen in shock for a few good minutes, waiting for someone else to do something. It seemed like forever, but finally, Sarah spoke up. “So, Kath,” she said to the princess, “What do we do?” David could not believe the gall of his sister, to refer to the princess as Kath, and to ask her a question so informally.

The princess shrugged her shoulders and pointed directly to David. “Shouldn’t your brother figure it out?” she asked. Everyone turned to look at David, and he could feel his entire body freezing up.

“I… um… I don’t… um…” he weakly stammered out. Jack walked over to David and put his paint-covered hands on David’s shoulders. Soaking in the kindness of Jack’s touch, David pulled himself together just enough. “Let’s go inside,” he said, mechanically turning towards the building.

Jack quickly followed, along with the rest of the group. The eleven people squeezed into the tiny apothecary shop, nearly touching shoulders. Another awkward staring contest began, with each person looking at a different person.

After a few minutes, a boy with glasses and curly hair spoke up. “So, you’re probably wondering why we’re here,” he said. He reached into a canvas tote bag at his side, pulling out an enormous book. “This book is our only link to Race’s location,”

“Who’s Race?” another person asked. David quickly registered the face as Spot Conlon’s, Jack’s younger brother. “Ise here ta save Antonio," Spot insisted. The rest of the group looked like they were going to protest, but Spot added to his statement. "I just wants supplies fer da journey!"

David turned to Spot, an incredulous look on his face. “Then why’d you bring Jack and Smalls?” he asked Spot. Spot sighed, clearly annoyed with the presence of his two siblings.

“Jack all but begged me to come wit’, just so he could see y—” Jack slammed his elbow into Spot’s stomach. Spot socked Jack’s shoulder hard, “An’ Miss Medda made me take Smallsies,” he said, motioning to the small girl who was standing beside Les. _Wait, when did Les join this?_

Sarah beat him to the punch. “Lester Abraham Jacobs, what on God’s Good Green Earth are you doing in this conversation?” she demanded, stepping closer to her younger brother.

Les shrugged and pointed at Smalls. “Me an’ Smalls wanna be included wit’ you guys!” he complained.

“You’re 9!” David exclaimed. Les stuck his tongue out at him.

“Almost 10!” Les responded. The entire room burst into multiple conversations at once. People were getting louder and more aggressive. David legitimately felt the shop’s floor begin to rumble as the horde of humans grew more frantic by the second.

All of a sudden, a pigeon flew through the window, landing on a boy’s shoulder. The boy began to have a conversation with the pigeon. That’s it. “STOP IT!” David screamed. Everyone paused their movements and looked at David with a ‘deer in the headlights’ expression. “All of you, calm down! What are you doing here?” he demanded. No responses. “There are five of you who I actually know, for Christ's sake! Who are the rest of you?” he exclaimed, pointing to the six new people in his shop.

The boy with the pigeon stepped forwards. “Ise Finch, an’ this is Papes,” he said, pointing to the bird. David shook his head in disbelief. _Who names a bird Papes? That makes no sense!_ Finch continued on. “Dis is Albert,” he said, pointing to a boy with bright red hair. Albert gave David a small wave. David did not return the gesture.

“Hi!” another boy said, stepping forwards, a large smile plastered on his face. “Ise Elmer, an’ I really like yer plant collection!”

David returned the smile. “I’m so glad you like them! I’ve been working hard on keeping them alive!” he responded, grateful that someone appreciated his effort.

The boy with the glasses stepped forwards again. “My name is Specs. Sorry ‘bout the chaos,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Last, but certainly not least, Princess Katherine stepped forwards. “I’m sure you know me as Princess Katherine, but please just call me Katherine,” she said, giving David a small smile. “I’m trying to work on being more approachable,”

“So, why are you guys here?” David asked princess Katherine. “Some sort of royal mission?”

The six newcomers nodded before Katherine spoke up. “Yes and no. You might know that Prince Antonio went missing a day ago,” she started. David nodded his head. “My group and I are here to acquire help for our search for my brother,”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Spot interrupted. “Dat’s my job! Hell, Albert here even gave it to me!” Jack stepped closer to Spot.

“Yeah, an I wanna paint some mountains!” Jack exclaimed. David couldn’t help but laugh at his crush’s indignant response. “Ya got a problem wit’ mountains, Dave?” Jack demanded, not seeing what was so funny.

Sarah spoke up for the first time in a while. “Well, if you guys want to go save Antonio, and we want to go save Antonio…” she trailed off, letting the pieces click for David.

“Why don’t we all go to save Antonio!” David finished. He turned to the boy with the glasses. “Specs, right?” he asked. Specs gave a nod in response. “What’s in that book?”

Specs walked over to a small coffee table and opened the book. “Some information about Race’s kidnappers,” the boy responded. David’s face must’ve shown confusion because Specs added on to his previous statement. “Antonio liked to be called Race sometimes,”

The bird on Finch’s shoulders ruffled its feathers and chirped something in Finch's ears. Finch nodded seriously, before turning to the rest of the group, a smile on his face. “Papes o’er here says he knows da way to da Dragons Den!” Finch exclaimed, translating for the bird. “He knows where Race is!”

All eleven of them let out a cheer. Spot stepped over to Specs. “Ise a good bodyguard, I’ll come wit ya,” he said, clapping Specs on the back. “Which means Jacky an’ Smalls is comin’, no matter what I say,”

Just the mention of Jack coming was enough to get David to sign onto this dangerous quest he’d suggested. “I’ll go too!” he said, flushing bright red as he realized everyone was staring at him. “Sarah and Les will come with, I’m not going anywhere without them,”

Les and Smalls walked up to their respective siblings, and gave them long hugs, before running off and high-fiving each other. “We’se goin on a quest, Les!” Smalls exclaimed.

“I know!” Les responded. “It’s gonna be so much fun!”

Everyone else chuckled at their childlike glee before Katherine spoke up again. “So, we're all in, right?" she asked. The entire group gave one single nod at the same time. Katherine tried not to look extremely freaked out and continued her statement. "We're going to have to figure out a way to get to the Dragon Den, and that's where things get tough," she motioned at her carriage outside of the shop. "My carriage can only seat four,"

"Then how'd ya get here?" Jack asked, thoroughly confused. "There's six of ya now, how'd the other two of ya get here if yer carriage only fits four?"

Finch and Albert shared a look before Albert explained the ride. "Me an' Finch rode on the horse, but it ain't that comfortable fer anyone. We was lucky we didn't fall off more than once." Both boys shared a grimace, obviously reliving painful bruises. "We gotta find another way ta get all of us o'er to the Dragon Den because I ain't goin on that horse again,"

Smalls weaseled her way into the group of teenagers. "Well, Spottie's got a cart that I like ta ride in sometimes!" she offered. "I knows it can fit at least three people, maybe four if one's a kid," she added, not understanding why everyone was laughing. "What's wrong wit' me callin' my brudda Spottie?" she demanded, stomping her foot on the ground. Everyone ceased their laughter, realizing that Smalls was just as much of a force as her older brother. 

"Well, that gets rid of seven seats for people. Problem is, we've still got four more to fit," Specs commented. "It'd be really helpful if the apothecary had a horse an' cart," he added, looking at David. David stared back blankly until he remembered that he  _did_ have a horse and cart. Luckily, Sarah seemed to remember before him.

"We've got a horse and cart, I think can fit four people and all of our supplies," she said, turning to David. "I guess it's time to take Filip for a ride," Sarah turned and headed out to the barn where the horse and cart were stored. Les followed behind. 

David looked at the group of teenagers still inside his store. "Okay, everyone go get packed. We'll leave here at noon," he ordered, grinning to himself when everyone started to move. He exited the shop, and into the barn with his siblings. Filipe the horse was ready to go, all they had to do was set up the cart. "I'll go get some food," David offered, heading into the small cabin next to the barn. It wasn't that big, but he could call it home. Because that's what it was, his house. Grabbing as much food as he could fit in his arms, he ran back outside, nearly colliding with Spot. 

"Hey Davey, Jack keeps telling me to 'shuh-nell', but I think he means 'Schnell'," Spot said, clearly disgusted with his adopted brother's abuse of Yiddish. David sighed, knowing that Jack had a tendency to abuse the Yiddish language. "Tell him to stop, please," Spot begged. Walking away, David shook his head, ignoring the annoyed groans from Spot. Spot ran back to his cart, where Smalls was currently doing more work than Jack. 

Smalls saw Spot's return and ran up to him. "Tell Jack to stop telling me to hurry up!" she whined, sounding like... a child. Sometimes Spot forgot how young his sister is. "He's doin it in Yiddish again, an' I don't like it!" she moaned. Spot stormed over to Jack and socked him in the shoulder. 

"Get ta work, Cowboy. Go check in wit' everyone, make sure they'se okay," Spot said, laughing as Jack winced at the use of his old nickname. Running into the shop, Jack saw Albert and Finch holding hands and debating over bird seed for Papes. 

"He's a pigeon, Finch. He doesn't need bird seed!" Albert exclaimed, moving his unoccupied hand around wildly. "He can just eat our breadcrumbs!" Finch scoffed, and picked up a container of birdseed, putting it in a basket filled with other food.

Finch rolled his eyes rather dramatically and turned to face Albert. "Papes is a pigeon of  _luxury_ , Albert. He ain't eating no bitch ass breadcrumbs!" Finch retorted. Jack laughed a little, causing Finch to turn around. "Somethin' funny, Jack?" Finch demanded, walking closer to Jack.

It was in this moment that Jack realized just how protective Finch was of Papes. "No, I just think it's cute how you love Papes so much," Jack stuttered out. He could feel Albert's death glare piercing into his skin, but he didn't care. He just wanted to leave. "Bye guys, I'll see you in a few," Jack said, before running out to check on the royal carriage. 

It seemed like Katherine was doing fine with preparing her horse and carriage for the journey. "Princess, ya doin' okay? Need any help?" Jack asked. 

"We're doing great over here, thank you!" Katherine replied, dismissing Jack's offer of assistance. "We'll be fine, don't worry about me," she added. Jack nodded to himself, crossing off a box in his mental checklist, and went back to his area. It seemed like everyone would be good to go by noon. 

They had already lined all of the carriages up and were ready to go. Like, they could have just hopped into their carts and left at that moment. Elmer was the one who brought it up, barely whispering it. "Who's going with who?" the gardener asked, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. "Oh my god you guys, nobody figured that out?" Elmer added in a disbelieving tone. "You'se are real lucky I spend so much time doin' math an' plannin," the rest of the group nodded. "Okay, everyone line up!" Elmer demanded. The entire group fell into a line that reminded David of... German children and singing?  _Weird._ "Okay, David, Spot, and Katherine are going with their respective carts. If ya wanna go with someone, go find them,"

Spot was soon joined by Smalls and Les, who seemed like they wanted to stick together. However, David was  _not_ pleased that his baby brother was going somewhere else. At least he still had Sarah... oh, no, she's joining Katherine.  _This is going perfectly_. Albert and Finch joined Katherine and Sarah, filling up two carts. That left Jack, David, Elmer, and Specs in the Jacobs and Sons cart.  _And I'm with my crush. Great._

After a bit of shuffling around, a few items being moved and at least one pigeon's coo, the group was finally ready to go. Again. It was at this moment that the bell tower rang twelve times, signaling the start of their journey. Jack stuck his head out the window and screamed "SHUH-NELL!" at everyone else. 

David sighed, feeling his Jewish Soul breaking into pieces. "It's Schnell, Jack. Schnell!" Jack rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue at David.  _Very mature, Jack. Very mature._ "Let's just go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave your comments, questions or concerns down below! Don't worry, we'll meet Blink, Mush and Buttons two chapters from now and y'all'll get that fluff I told you I'd include in this chapter (i'm not reliable y'all gotta learn that)
> 
> Finch's obsession with birds is based off of one of my friends (who hates newsies lol)
> 
> Also, shuh-nell is pronounced like chanel, bc Jack likes designer brands (jk)
> 
> Peace Out Boy Scouts


	8. So It Turns Out That My Escape Plan Wasn't Good (and I’m beginning to regret my decisions)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Race and Crutchie pay the price for their failed escape attempt, and we see a little more about Pulitzer and Race's relationship before... the thing.
> 
> why am i so bad at these?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive had like... three foods today... im so hungry  
> updating two times in one day we stan an active queen (dont expect this from me in the future yall)  
> am i making race black out bc i don't know how to write people being beat up (ive never even been in a fight i dont know how to throw a punch)  
> enjoy this... or dont... or enjoy it but be like 'heck u' at the same time bc i made you cry (i seem to do that now?)

As it turns out, sleeping with your hands chained behind your back is not comfortable. Crutchie and Race learned this the hard way after they were caught by the Delancey Brothers during their daring escape plan. That night, neither boy fully slept, for they were too haunted by their dreams.

Race, in particular, was reliving the dream he had the night before, where his father tells the Delancey Brothers to kidnap someone. And as much as Race would love to deny that his father would hire dragons to kidnap him, there wasn’t really another answer. With the additional knowledge that he was being used as a trap to get Katherine, Race was utterly petrified for himself and his sister.

That night, he fell into a dreamless sleep, tossing and turning as best as he could with his hands behind his back. The next morning, Race was awoken by a bucket of cold water being tossed over his body. “Wh— huh?” he asked, startled from the rude awakening. “What was that?”

“A wake-up call, princey boy,” a voice said behind him. Race struggled to see who it was. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s just me, Oscar,” the voice taunted. “Mister Snyder told me ta wake ya up, just didn’t say how,”

Morris stepped into the cage, but instead of walking to Race, he walked over to Crutchie. _Crap, I forgot about Crutchie!_ A loud, clear crack was heard as Morris backhanded his brother. Crutchie’s eyes shot open, but he didn’t say anything. Morris stared at Crutchie, obviously waiting for a response.

But here’s the thing about Crutchie, he’s not as dumb as Race. So the boy didn’t say anything to his captors/brothers. Race, however, did. “Lemme go!” Race exclaimed as he thrashed against his handcuffs. Oscar undid the chains connecting him to the cage and grabbed Race by the collar. “Coglione!” he spat at Oscar, earning him a punch in the gut.

“Shut it, Princey Boy, or I’ll make ya,” Oscar threatened. That’s when Race stopped talking. He let himself be led across the cave. He let Oscar push him around. He let his knees hit the floor when Oscar gave his shoulders a hard shove.

It didn’t seem like Crutchie was faring any better. He was a bit slower than Race, due to the fact that Morris had cracked his crutch the night before. Watching the boy stumble across the cave was painfully awkward for Race, and embarrassing for Crutchie. Once he finally reached the area where Race was kneeling, Morris and Oscar let out a shrill yell.

“What the hell?” Race asked Crutchie. Crutchie shrugged, and it seemed like Race would never get an answer. But all of a sudden, Snyder’s large form came stomping in front of the two boys.

He was smoking a cigar and had another amber colored liquid in his hands. “Tryin’ ta escape, huh?” he asked the two boys. He received no response. “Ya ain’t doin that. I’se got Pulitzer’s permission ta do whatever I wants ta Prince Antonio o’er here,” he said. Race shuddered, realizing his dreams weren’t dreams. They were realities. “An’ the cr*pple’s mine,” Snyder slurred. It became glaringly obvious that the spider was drunk.

Crutchie glowered at Snyder. “I ain’t yours, Snyder!” he exclaimed, before realizing what he’d just done. “Sorry sir,” he said, turning his voice from powerful to meek in a matter of seconds. Snyder dismissed Crutchie’s efforts with a wave of his hand.

“Morris an’ Oscar, since ya did so well wit’ catchin ‘em in the first place, I’ll let you have the first punches,” Snyder said. Morris and Oscar high fived. The fact that these two dragons could find amusement in the pain of humans would always be a mystery to Race.

It was at that moment that Race decided to question everything that had happened.“Why?” Race asked. The three villains turned to him. “Why did youse kidnap me? Why did my father pay youse? Why do youse hate Crutchie? This, all of this, is unfair!” Race asked, growing angrier by the minute.

Snyder walked dangerously close to Race and gave a small growl at the prince. “Because life isn’t supposed to be fair, young prince,” With that, Snyder turned away from Race and went back in his secluded area of the cave.

“Now, we’ve been given discretion to handle youse as we see fit,” Morris said, stomping closer to Race. Picking the prince up by the collar, Morris slammed his fist directly into Race’s gut. The prince doubled over from pain, but Morris showed no signs of stopping. Hit after hit, his fists attacking every inch of Race’s body.

Looking over at Crutchie, Race now realized that the other boy wasn’t faring any better. Oscar had knocked Crutchie to the floor and was kicking at him over and over. Even though he’d been so strong before, Race could see the tears that threatened to leak out of his eyes. “Stop,” Crutchie weakly begged, “Youse my brother!”

“Not anymore,” was Oscar’s response. It was almost visible to see the pieces of Crutchie’s heart that were just shattered.

That’s when Race decided that this wasn’t okay. He would take control, and make things better. “Don’t hurt him,” Race said in between punches. “Take me instead!” he pleaded with the two dragons. They stared at him for a few seconds, before nodding.

Crutchie began to squirm around on the ground. “No, Race! Ya can’t do that!” he cried. Race just gave him a small smile, like Crutchie, had given him on the first day. “Don’t do it, Race!” Crutchie begged. Morris grabbed the boy by his bad leg and dragged him back to the cage.

Oscar began circling Race like a tiger circling its prey. That’s what Race felt like right now; prey. “Let’s see… what could possibly hurt little Antonio…” Oscar said a carnivorous grin on his face. He walked over to a box and pulled out a whip. “Why don’t we try this ol’ thing, for old times sake, huh?” he asked Morris.

Shaking his head back and forth rather rapidly, Race felt himself go stiff when he saw the whip. When he was younger, his father would take him to see public punishments. His head spun at the sight of the whip.

_“Papa, why do we hafta hurt him?” Prince Antonio asked his father. It was another public punishment that his father had taken him and Katherine too. “Can’t he just ‘pologize?”_

_King Pulitzer shook his head. “I’m sorry, son, it’s just not possible sometimes,” he responded. “There are bad people who do bad things. They deserve bad punishments,” he said, propping Antonio on his lap. “But you’ll never be one of those bad people, so you don’t have to worry,”_

_Antonio watched as the man was brutally whipped, his back turning into nothing more than torn flesh and blood. He heard his mamma crying softly into Katherine’s auburn curls._

_“Mamma, why are you sad? Didn’t he do something wrong?” Antonio asked, hopping down from his father’s lap. His mother shook her head. “_

_Yes and no, bambino. It’s complicated,” Queen Kate responded. “Sometimes what seems good to one is bad for another,”_

An— Race was shaken out of his memories by the crack of a whip against his back. “Fanculo!” Race screamed, realizing the whip had hit his back. It kept coming down, tearing Race’s thin shirt into strips of fabric. For the second time during his stay at the Dragons Den, Race blacked out.

When he woke up, all of the injuries from his beating started to hurt. Crutchie was over him, applying some sort of… “Ouch!” Race exclaimed, feeling the familiar burn of alcohol on his back.

“Race, Ise gotta disinfect your cuts. It ain’t gonna be fun, but we’se gotta do it,” Crutchie responded before going back to cleaning the wounds. It was obvious that Crutchie had been beaten on too, judging by the massive shiner on his left eye, and the other various visible bruises on his body.

More fire shot through his wounds, causing Race to spasm on the ground. The ground… it wasn’t cold. Feeling around like a small child would, during the nighttime when their stuffed animal has fallen to the ground, he realized that he was on a bed. “Crutchie, where am I?” he asked his friend, hoping that maybe he’d died.

“Youse in da cage, I just made Oscar an’ Morris get a mattress fer ya,” Crutchie responded, ruining Race’s small amount of hope.

Slamming his head onto the mattress, Race barely whispered “Uccidimi, ti prego,” to Crutchie. Fortunately, the other boy didn’t hear him and didn’t speak Italian at all.

“Night Racer, you should probably try ‘n get some sleep,” Crutchie said, falling onto the mattress. "Night Crutchie," Race said, before falling into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooo leave a comment bc i love them they make me squeal with happiness and i need all of the happiness i can get bc my dad bought bread flour instead of all-purpose and now i cant make cookies until someone gets all-purpose but i cant drive to the store and my parents are sick.
> 
> peace 0ut b0y sc0uts


	9. We’re In The Woods To Save The Prince (though honestly I am not convinced)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Specs, Elmer, Jack and David have a bonding carriage ride and meet some new people! It's a great learning experience for all of them!
> 
> Also to the people who wanted Blink, Mush, Buttons and Romeo: HERE YA GO!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is the title based off of the hit broadway musical "Into the Woods"? yes, yes it is.  
> am i so tired that i forgot the plural for human, so i wrote humen before freaking out and googling plural for human (it's humans btw)? yes, yes i am.  
> did i break the key cover thingie off of my 'g' key bc i wanted to look at the underneath of the key? yes, yes i did. 
> 
> Serious Note Though: I'm sorry for not updating sooner, this chapter was really hard for me to start at first. But then an idea hit, I ran with it and I loved it. I'll try not to have a huge time gap between chapters, bc I don't want this to be another project that I abandon for something else. 
> 
> as always; enjoy,,,,, or don't bc im not gonna tell u how to live ur life.

Specs honestly didn’t know what he was doing outside of the kingdom. Well, he did know, but he saw no logical reason to it. _Why were so many people needed for a simple rescue mission?_ He asked himself, trying to see the logic in the whole ordeal. But even though he was trying extremely hard, he still couldn’t understand it.

The traveling situation wasn’t any better. Currently, he was sharing a small apothecary cart with three other people. To make things worse, he only knew one of them. The ride out of the kingdom was awkward, with all four boys sitting quietly, silence hanging over them.

“So, are we gonna introduce ourselves or something?” Elmer had butted in about five miles from the kingdom lines. Normally, they’d have to provide passports and proof of identification, but since they were accompanied by Princess Katherine… Well, let’s just say it was a _lot_ easier to get around places.

One of the two unknown boys nodded his head. “My name’s David, I’m seventeen and I’m a wizard,” he said. Specs stared at him.

“A wizard? I’se gotta remember ta interview ya once we get back ta the kingdom!” Specs exclaimed, a grin spreading on his face. “Pulitzer put a ban on magic a while back, and I’se been looking fer someone ta answer my questions!”

David scooted a little further away from Specs, clearly not used to being interrogated by librarians. “Perhaps…” he said tentatively, “Or you could interview me at the shop,” he said. The boy sitting next to David practically shoved his entire elbow into David’s stomach.

“Are youse insane, Davey?” the boy said, his voice growing louder. “Ya don’t wanna go to the castle cuz the shmuggie of a king won’t let ya?”

The sigh that came from David’s mouth was unholy. “Schmuck, Jack. You really need to work on pronunciation,” Jack huffed, and turned away from David, staring directly at Elmer and Specs. He looked like he wanted to ask something, but didn’t have the nerve to say it.

“Yeah?”

“Okay, so what’s the castle like? Is it true there’s art on every wall? An’ all o’ those sculptures an’ stuff?”

Elmer and Specs looked at each other. The castle was beautiful on the outside. But what the outsiders never saw was the way King Pulitzer ruled his servants. A cruel man, by the name of Wiesel, was in charge of the servants. Unfortunately, the two boys were bound by a royal oath to only say good things about the castle. Seriously, Pulitzer actually made every single servant take an oath.

They both shifted around in their seats for a quick second, before Elmer spoke up. “Well, since I’se in the garden, an’ Specs is in da library, neither of us see much else of the castle. But it’s real cool when we do get to leave,”

David’s face lit up before he turned to Specs. “You’re a librarian?” he asked, childlike glee seeping into his voice. Specs nodded. “That’s so _cool_! I’ve always wanted to be a librarian, but my parents wanted me to go into the Apothecary business.”

“Well, it’s real fun, but it’s hard work too,” Specs replied. “That’s why I’se here. I knows a lot ‘bout dragons, an’ I’se got the map,” he added, pulling out the book from his side satchel. It landed on his lap with a satisfying ‘umph’ noise, and Specs opened it to the dog-eared page about dragons.

Reaching across the cart, David took the book from Specs and began to scour the page for information. “Says here that the Dragons Den is about two days away! That’s too long, we have to reach the prince before then!” David commented.

“Yeah, he’s a bit of a dumbass most of the time, he could get into some trouble,” Elmer said, giggling. “But he’s not that dumb, right?” a look of fear passed over his face. “No, he is that dumb, Specs! Race is gonna die!” the gardener exclaimed, clearly terrified for his friend.

David and Jack shared a look, before Jack spoke up, choosing his words very carefully. “Race? You know Race?” Elmer and Specs both nodded, suspicion gleaming in their eyes. “What’s Race gotta do with da prince?”

“Race… _is_ the prince…” Specs said, “Must be some other Race,” Specs added, too confused for his own good.

The other two boys shook their heads. “Nah, can’t be. Who’d choose the nickname Race besides him?” Jack said. “What does yours look like?”

Elmer closed his eyes, mentally picturing Race. “Blonde hair, real curly. Bright blue eyes that make ya wanna drown in ‘em.”

“He’s real skinny, like a twig. But if a twig had muscles,” Jack said.

“An’ he’s always got a cigar in his mouth!” all four of them finished off. “Wait… what?”

The quartet stared at each other for a few minutes, dumbfounded.

David was the first to speak like he was treading on thin ice. “Our Race is your Race, which means that Prince Antonio was sneaking out of the castle and coming to the edge of the kingdom almost every night,”

Elmer’s eyes lit up. “That must’ve been why he always slept in, ‘e was tired from stayin’ up all night!” The group laughed at their friend’s antics before Specs realized that something was wrong.

“Guys, we need to stop. Now,” he said. David’s cart, which had been driven by a spell-induced horse suddenly stopped. “David, do ya have any magic spells ‘gainst fairies an’ shit like that?” Specs demanded, relaxing just the slightest once David nodded. “Good, cuz I think we’se got ourselves into some deep shit,”

Slowly opening the door to the cart, Specs stepped out onto the ground. He saw that Spot’s cart and Katherine’s carriage were safe, which made it a whole lot easier. Finch ran over to Specs, Papes in his arms. “Specs, Papes started sayin’ stuff all of a sudden, an’ then he passed out!” the birdkeeper exclaimed, tears in his eyes.

“We’se in magic county now, Finch. Papes ain’t a normal pigeon, ya know?” Specs said, watching as Finch’s face went from upset to confused to nervous. “We’se gotta be careful,” he added, before cupping his hands around his face. “Everyone, group up! We might run into some fairies an’ stuff!” he yelled. Everyone started moving towards him when they heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Hi!” the voice said, giggling. It surrounded the group, coming from all directions. “How’re y’all doin? My name’s Romeo, an’ although I love guests, your presence is really gettin’ Tommy Boy all riled up.” The humans gasped, David summoning his magic. A figure creeped out of the woods and put its hands over David’s eyes. “Boo!”

At least three-fourths of the group let out blood-curdling screams, especially David, who’s scream was unnaturally high. Spot just stood there, along with Smalls, Sarah, and Finch. David whipped around and came face to face with a very short boy.

The boy stuck out his hand, which the group now noticed was olive green. They also all noticed the dragonfly-esque wings on his back. “I’se Romeo, nice ta meetcha!” he said. David shook the hand very carefully, trying not to cry. “An’ now that you’se is here, we can have some fun!” he said, laughing as more creatures? humans? came out of the woods.

There were twin boys who were leap-frog hopping over each other. One boy came with a giant, wooden cross in his hand, pulling a sword out from the wood. He was standing next to a boy with a giant needle in his hands. A girl had a bow and arrow pointed directly at Finch’s head, who had his slingshot pointed at hers. And last but not least, two boys came out, who were violently french kissing each other.

“Blink! Mush! Stop kissing an’ get ta work!” Romeo exclaimed, screaming at the two lovers. “Y’all can kiss later!” The two rolled their eyes at Romeo, and separated from each other, joining the rest of the group.

It was at this moment that the humans realized that they were completely surrounded. Specs stepped forwards, hands raised towards the sky. “We just want clear passage,” he said to Romeo, trying not to notice how attractive the fairy was.

“Nope, not today!” Romeo exclaimed before all of the newcomers began to surround the humans. Romeo stepped closer to Specs, and in one solid movement, spun him around, and tied his hands behind his back. Specs looked around at his friends and realized that they were also all tied up. Romeo shoved Specs in the shoulders, forcing him to step forward. “C’mon, I wanna take y’all to meet someone!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment of your keyboard smashes and all-caps responses, bc i love them! or leave a comment that features constructive criticism, or edits, bc i love those too! or tell me i'm a terrible person for making your fav character suffer (im lookin at u crutchie and race stans {and im sorry})
> 
> i swEAR that romeo and co. are good, and that they won't actually be villians. Also, yes, I did call Blush out for excessive PDA, because i'm that kinda gal. 
> 
> ALSO: THANKS TO The_Pan_With_A_Plan for the amazing "Jack can't speak Yiddish" idea, and a shoutout to the_athenian_pamphleteer for having the same name head canon for Les! (i thought i just created a random name, but i was probably inspired by them, so they get a shoutout too!) {oh my god am i AO3 Oprah?}
> 
> peace out boy scouts


	10. My Kidnappers Are Being Really Mean To Me (make it stop please)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Delancey Dragons drag Crutchie and Race to a very large rock, and are surprisingly dramatic. 
> 
> Features: Torture, because that's what happens in kidnappings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoooo y'all I put a theatre reference in this shizzle if you find it you get... my love and support?
> 
> okay so they said there was gonna be a snowstorm in WI and canceled school but there's no goddamn snow im mad/confused. i ain't gonna lie, this chapter is inspired by a few things:  
> \- Sardonyx interviewing Smokey Quartz (for the set/audience ONLY)  
> \- The Marvelous Marriage from A Series of Unfortunate Events  
> \- This One Weird Dream I Had When I Was Ten

That morning, when Race awoke from his peaceful slumber, he realized just how much pain he was in. Everything hurt. He was tired, injured and just wanted to go home. Be with all of his friends at the castle during the day, sneak out at nights to visit Jack, Spot, Davey and all of the others. For the first time since his kidnapping, Race allowed himself to feel bad.

A small voice interrupted Race from his pity party. “Race? Ya doin’ okay?” Crutchie asked, waking up as well. “Last night wasn’t all that unusual fer me, but fer you…” he trailed off because they both knew that Crutchie didn’t need to finish that thought.

“I’se as good as it gets, Crutch,” Race responded, wiping a tear from his face. Crutchie tilted his head in concern. “I’se fine,” Race said, finishing the topic.

The two boys sat on the mattress that Crutchie had gotten from the Delanceys. It was one of the few good things in their lives right now, so they wanted to enjoy it while they could. For a few moments, they just laid on the bed and did nothing.

Until they heard the familiar stomping footsteps that belonged to the Delancey Brothers. Crutchie and Race both struggled to sit up, trying to look like they were completely fine, despite the various bruises on their bodies. “Alright, so Snyder says he don’t care what happens ta ya, so we’se gonna have some fun,” Oscar announced, sounding more like a summer camp counselor than an evil dragon.

Morris unlocked the cage and grabbed both Crutchie by the collar. Oscar entered, and grabbed Race’s shoulders. It was hopeless to struggle, so they just let the two brothers forced them around. After what felt like hours of being taken around Dragon County, they finally reached their supposed destination. It was a rock.

“What’s this?” Race asked, not understanding why the Delancey Brothers would schlep him to a rock. “It’s just a rock!”

The laughter that came from both dragons was unholy in its own meaning. “This is the Big Apple,” Morris said, gesturing to the rock. “It looks like a—”

“An apple, I gets it,”

“Anyways, it’s the perfect place to spend an evening watching a few good performances,” Morris continued, unperturbed by Race’s interruption. “And although we love a good show, we thought you could perform wit’ us,”

Race was shocked. These were the two dragons that kidnapped him, smoked his cigar and beat him up. Why would they want to perform with Race? Well, no matter what, Race’s inner theatre kid was shining through, just waiting to get up on that stage. “Well, I’se always wanted to be a performer,” Race replied, thinking of the time his father took him to see a musical.

_They were sitting up in balcony seats, watching the show through opera glasses. Antonio could barely sit still, it was so exciting. “Papa!” he said to his father, “Papa, I wanna be one of them one day!” he exclaimed, standing up from his seat._

_“One day, perhaps,” his father replied, turning back to the show. Antonio looked closer at the actors, noticing how they were dancing around a large tree prop. There were people on the branches, on the ground dancing. “Maybe you could be a dancer, Antonio,” his father said, pointing at a boy with curly blonde hair, just like his. “One day, you could be like him,”_

_Antonio nodded and paid attention for the rest of the show. And later that week, when he asked to take his first ballet class, he knew who he wanted to be like. He danced for years, literal years until his father forbade it once his mother died. Something wasn’t right with his father, he wasn't that blind. He was still treating Katherine the same, but he’d started to ignore Antonio. There was something that happened, Antonio knew that. But he just couldn’t figure out what._

“I’ll do it wit’ ya,” Race said, breaking his train of thought away. “Crutch, ya wanna join?” he asked, before realizing the fear on Crutchie’s face wasn’t stage fright.

Crutchie was shaking his head no violently. “Don’t do it Race, don’t do it!” he screamed, but it was too late. Morris dropped Crutchie on the ground, and grabbed Race’s arm, pulling the prince onto the stage. Crutchie watched in horror, knowing the shitshow that was about to go down.

Oscar stepped up on the stage, a microphone in his hand. “Ladies, and gentle dragons, the Delancey Brothers would like to introduce you to the Prince of Manhattan,” he announced, gesturing to Race. The prince was struggling against Morris’s grip on his wrist. “His father, the king, _paid_ us ta kidnap ‘im, isn’t that a laugh?” Oscar said, causing the crowd to break out into laughter.

Morris dragged Race to the front of the stage and took the microphone from Oscar. “Now, we’s been pretty nice wit’ providin’ ‘im things. He’s got a nice little cage, which he’s now sharing with our traitorous brudda!” The crowd roared, clearly loving every second of this. Race felt the hot lights beating on his face, Morris’s grip on his wrist, the way people were laughing at him. “An’ he has the audacity, the audacity, folks, ta try an’ run ‘way from us?”

“An’ we’se is respectable people, ladies an’ gents. We’se got a good track record wit’ kidnappin’. We did not want this to end up badly, so we thought we’d show Prince Antonio what happens when ya mess wit’ a dragon!” Oscar said, pushing Race to the front of the stage.

Lights began to flash all across the stage, blinding Race for a few seconds. He stumbled around the stage blindly, feeling a very solid pit forming in his stomach. “Guys? What’re ya gonna do?” he asked, hoping to sound tough and mature. The waver in his voice betrayed that, however. Then, all of a sudden, it hit him.

Now, the phrase “it hit him” typically describes someone coming up with a brilliant idea. However, in this case, it means that a whip just hit Race’s back. Race fell down to his knees in shock, hoping to show that he surrendered. But the hits just kept on coming.

After what seemed like forever, Race felt someone picking him up by the collar, and placing him in water. He was excited at first but then shrieked in pain as he felt fire running through his veins. “Wh- what- what’s in this water?” he asked the two brothers, panting out the words.

“Just plain ol’ water…” Morris responded, “And a lil bit a’ salt,” he added. Race looked around and realized most of the crowd had left by now.

“Why would you be so fucking mean?” Race demanded, struggling to sit up. Oscar pushed him back in the water and held him under the liquid for longer than necessary. “Why am I here? Why do you want Katherine? Why?” Race was screaming now.

Oscar pulled Race out of the water, and dried him off roughly, only adding agitation to his wounds. Race tried to be an optimistic person most of the time, but right now, he was feeling like he was going to die. Pulling the prince close to his face, Oscar whispered the answers to Race’s torture.

“Yer dad don’t love ya, an’ he paid us ta take ya. But we didn’t like da pay, so we left a clue fer the princess ta find. She’s gonna come up an’ try ta save ya. Then, we snatches her, an’ makes her our bride!” Oscar exclaimed, pulling a classic _villainous monologue_ maneuver. Race sighed, clearly tired with the overuse of said trope.

“Can we _please_ move on from the monologue?” Race asked, rolling his eyes. Oscar drop kicked him across the stage, but it was worth it. “Nice punt, Delancey. Ya learn that in little league?” Race provoked, doing the one thing that’s kept him alive all of these years. Get them so mad that they can't land a hit.

The dragon came charging at Race, but his brother stepped in just in time to move Race away from Oscar. “You’se is comin’ wit’ us, an’ you ain’t sayin’ nothin,” Morris said, grabbing Race’s wrists. The dragon tied them together using rope and a double fisherman's knot.

“Well, I—” Race was cut off by a piece of cloth being shoved into his mouth. He tried to spit it out, but another rope was put over the gag. “Mmmph!” he exclaimed, trying to express his anger through the fabric.

Morris and Oscar just laughed and began leading Race off of the stage. Crutchie followed behind, hopping around on one foot. Finally, Morris just shoved Crutchie onto the floor. “Jus’ crawl like the dog you is, traitor,” Morris snarled, kicking dirt in his brother’s face.

“Now, princey boy, I’se heard that Katherine’s comin ta save ya,” Oscar said, taunting Race. “She’s gonna fall right into our trap, ya know?”

As much as Race wanted to deny the fact that Katherine was coming, he couldn’t. His sister was walking right into a trap, and he was powerless to do anything about it. He hated feeling powerless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oke im sO SORRY I LITERALLY HAD TO TAKE BREAKS WHILE WRITING THIS IM SO SORRY FOR THIS ANGST I KNOW I SHOULDN'T BE FORGIVEN BUT STILL
> 
> ALSO: should i turn RedFinch into RedTinch to include Tommy Boy, or do y'all want to keep it with just Albert and Finch?


	11. We’re Being Held Hostage By Fairies But They’re Kinda Cool (when they’re not being jerks)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Specs and the crew are still hostages of the fairies. They go through the forest, Finch does some dumb stuff for love, and so does Jack. Elmer becomes the second person to officially make Jorgelino Josephino De La Guerra laugh. 
> 
> Warning: swear words, choking someone for love, non-sexual vine handcuff thingies and jumping into dark abysses without knowing what's at the bottom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember how i said i was unmotivated. jk. it turns out i was actually just writing from the wrong perSPECStive. (AY AY AY). this chapter came pretty quick to me, so i must have been seriously imagination deprived when i wrote that intermission thingie. 
> 
> i hope you enjoy... or don't, because I'm not going to tell you what to do.

Specs had gotten himself into a kerfuffle again. But this time, instead of prank wars between the castle servants, it was a full-on hostage situation. Maybe if his captors were uglier, he wouldn’t be having this issue. His captor was not ugly. In fact, he was actually quite attractive. Nope, stop being gay during dangerous situations! Specs told himself, craning his head to look back at his friends.

The rest of his friends were also tied up, and being led through the forest behind him. Even though the humans outnumbered the fairies, nobody seemed to fight back. Which was odd, considering the fact that Spot’s an ex-knight, David’s a wizard, and Sarah and Albert both knowing how to fight to protect their employers.

Changing his view to an analytical one, Specs saw that David’s body and face were portraying pure fear. Spot was obviously restraining himself, probably because of Smalls. Sarah was moving closer to Katherine, silently waiting for the right time to strike. And Albert was looking at Finch, too afraid to move.

Each of his friends had a fairy near them, forcing them to walk forwards. Specs counted eight of them. Two twin boys who wore mismatched outfits, a girl dressed in all black, a boy with a sword that was shaped like a cross, a boy with a giant sewing needle as his weapon, a boy with an eyepatch, and a very short boy. These mythical creatures surrounded his friends, hands upon their shoulders.

After a few seconds of looking around at the entire group, Specs felt a light shove between his shoulder blades. It was Romeo again. “Hurry up, silly!” the fairy exclaimed, giving Specs a harder nudge, “I told ya, I wanna introduce ya to someone special!” Romeo didn’t hit hard enough to hurt. Then why did Specs’s skin feel like it was burning after the fairy removed his hand?

“Okay, sure, but why do we have to be tied up?” a voice from the back piped up. Everyone turned around and stared at Finch. The bird keeper had no clue why everyone was staring at him. Even Papes the Pigeon had an incredulous look on his face, “What?” he demanded, rather impatiently.

Albert broke free from the fairy with the eyepatch who was guiding him and meandered over to Finch. Eyepatch fairy scowled but didn’t follow just yet. After all, his captive had his hands behind his back, what could he do? The redhead whispered a few things in Finch’s ear, causing the bird keeper to make a very loud “Ohhh,” sound. Leaning in as far as he could, Albert landed a small peck on Finch’s cheek, then a peck on Papes’s wings.

That’s when the fairy who was leading Albert walked over and grabbed the redhead by his collar. “C’mon, ya ain’t kissin nobody on this trip,” he said. The fairy gave Albert a few more shoves, causing the boy to fall onto the muddy ground. Of course, with his hands behind his back, there was no way Albert could get up. The fairy scowled, kicking the ground near Albert. “Get up.”

“I can’t!” Albert exclaimed, trying to sit up. But his core strength had always been really weak, and there was no way he was getting up without some help.

The eyepatch fairy growled again. “Get up before I makes ya!” he said, towering over Albert. He grabbed the redhead by the collar and hoisted him off of the ground.

What happened next was physically impossible, yet it still happened. Finch managed to break free from the ropes holding his hands behind his back. Maybe it was his love for Albert, or maybe it was because Papes bit the ropes. As Finch charged the fairy, Papes gracefully flew onto Elmer’s shoulders. “Let go of my boyfriend!” Finch screamed, charging the fairy with the eyepatch.

Albert stared at Finch, eyes glassy with tears. “B-boyfriend?” he asked, choking up. Finch gave a small nod, before wrapping his hands around eyepatch fairy’s neck, lifting the fairy off of the ground. The fairy began to gasp, losing his breath. “Finchie, no!” Albert screamed at his boyfriend. Papes was squawking in distress at the sight.

Another fairy, who was leading Katherine and Sarah let go of the two girls, and ran over to where Finch was still choking eyepatch fairy. The new fairy grabbed the collar of Finch’s shirt and wrenched the human boy off of eyepatch fairy. Both the fairy and the human fell to the ground. “Don’t touch my boyfriend!” the new fairy screamed at Finch. He ran over to eyepatch fairy. “Blink, ya okay?”

“Yeah, Mush. I’se fine,” the eyepatch fairy responded. Mush helped Blink off of the ground, before staring at Finch. Blink gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry fer shovin’ yer boyfriend ‘round,” Blink muttered.

Albert gave Finch a very harsh elbow to the gut. “Sorry, fer chokin’ ya.”

By this point, the entire group had stopped walking and were watching as the lovers fought. Everyone was kind of just… standing there awkwardly. After a few seconds of silence, Romeo spoke up again. “Okay, that was… fun! Let’s keep goin’ though because when the sun comes down, that’s when things get crazy,” he said.

“Let us out of these bonds and we’ll come,” Specs said, staring Romeo. The two of them had a very dramatic standoff for a few seconds, before Romeo nodded, and turned to the fairy with the cross-sword. He snapped his fingers, and the ropes holding the rest of the group fell away. All except for Spot and David.

The two boys tried moving their hands but stopped once they realized it was useless. David started to look even more panicked than before, and Sarah walked over to him, rubbing his back in a soothing manner. She was whispering small reassurances into his ear. Spot looked more annoyed than anything. Smalls and Jack walked over to Spot. As most loner fighter types do, Spot shrugged them off.

“Hey, what the fuck?” Spot said, trying to break the ropes. “What’re in these things?”

“Specially grown vines from my garden,” the fairy with the sword responded. “We call ‘em Jojo Vines,” he said, “Cause I’se is Jojo. An’ they is my vines,” he added.

“Thank ya, Captain Obvious,” Spot bit out. “But why is we still in them?”

David had started to calm down quite a bit, but he was still upset. The fairies stared at the two of them. “Youse is powerful one way or anudda,” Romeo responded. “We’ll let ya out once we get ta where we’re goin,” The fairies turned around, and continued walking. The human group followed. Well, most of them followed.

Both Jack and David stood firmly in their places, Jack’s hands on David’s shoulders. “This ain’t fair!” Jack exclaimed, one hand on David, the other moving around wildly, “Davey ain’t gonna hurt ya wit’ nothin!” David didn’t say anything, but he leaned into Jack’s arms even more. It was plain to see that David was about two seconds away from crying.

Literally, everyone stared at Jojo, who sighed, and snapped his fingers. David gingerly moved his hands in front of him. “Thank you,” he said.

“We’se still keepin’ him in ‘em,” Jojo said, pointing to Spot. The fairy snapped again, and the magical handcuff vines moved Spot's hands in front of him, and then locked around his wrists. Spot nodded, because to be fair, he was a pretty scary person. Smalls ran over to him, tears in her big, brown eyes.

She gave him a big hug and very seriously said “I’ll get ya out, Spottie,” which caused everyone else to laugh. “What’re ya laughin at?” she screamed, waving her arms around just like Jack. Stomping over to Sarah and Les, Smalls buried herself in a famous Sarah Jacobs Hug™.

The group, which was now technically expanded to feature 19 people continued through the forest until they reached a very large sugar maple. “Look! It’s the Manhattan State Tree!” Elmer said, pointing to the maple. “Ain’t she a beaut?” he added, which caused Jojo to laugh. It was the first time that any of them had laughed since the initial encounter a few minutes ago.

“I think I’se gonna like ya, Elmer,” Jojo said. Unfortunately, Jojo didn’t know that everyone likes Elmer, and it was really inevitable. Ignoring that fact, however, the fairy with the giant sewing needle stepped forwards. He rapped out a beat onto the sugar maple, that sounded a lot like someone tap dancing with a wooden pole.

The sugar maple trunk split in half, which was already terrifying on its own. What made it even more terrifying was that Jojo, Elmer, Blink, Mush, Romeo, the twins and the girl in black jumped in. A few seconds later, a voice came up from the ground. “Come on in, it’s fine!” Romeo said.

Everyone looked at each other and gave a collective deep sigh. Slowly, in pairs of two, they jumped into the black abyss. As they fell, the group could hear a very quiet voice chanting. " _Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The very last thing said this chapter is the beginning of a prayer called the Mourner's Kaddish. Unlike most of the prayers in Judaism (or at least at my temple), this prayer is chanted with a solemn voice. Whoever is chanting is taking the prayer more literally. Essentially it's a way of saying 'we're gonna die' in Aramaic. 
> 
> jack and davey finally got their shit somewhat together, and i'm proud of them. 
> 
> finch and albert are now officially boyf riends, congrats guys!
> 
> finch and blink aren't actually sorry for that lil kerfuffle (oml i love that word), they just wanna make their softer boyfriends happy. get ready for some blush and redfinch fluff, bc i love fluff a lot.
> 
> remember, every comment you write gives carly an even more inflated hubris (look at her, thinking she can use big words) and makes her squeal in a very high pitch. 
> 
> As always, peace out boy scouts


	12. Can I Please Disown My Family Because They’re Jerks? (I still have to live with them, though)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crutchie hates his family even more than he thought possible, Race is a selfless person even when he's in deep pain, and we finally get to see King Pulitzer for the first time since chapter three.
> 
> TW: swearing, one slur (that's censored), non sexual handcuffs/manacles/footirons, near death experiences, and father/son reunions gone horribly wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooooooo i finally planned stuff out for once this story has an ending in sight!!!  
> of course, im also a procrastinator at heart, so i already created the sequel. i haven't even finished the rest of the chapters.  
> this chapter is semi-inspired by an amazing, introspective, comment from fandomtrashiness on chapter six, so thanks for that!  
> there's more emotional angst than physical angst, but there still are mentions of Race's bruises.   
> alSO I FOUND OUT THAT JOSHUA BURRAGE IS FROM WISCONSIN (where i live) AND HE WAS ONLY TWO COUNTIES AWAY DANG
> 
> so.,,,,.., enjoy,,,...., or don't because in this house, we make our own decisions

At this point, Crutchie was considering disowning his family. It wasn’t like they’d miss him or anything. Sure, he’d had some good times with Morris and Oscar, but that was all in the past. That was back when Crutchie could walk, and when his mama was alive. But there’s no time to worry about stuff that happened years ago because Race was in pain. 

His brothers were cruel, that he knew. He didn’t know they were cruel enough to drag both him and Race to the Big Apple, and publicly humiliate and torture Race. But here’s the thing; this wasn’t their style. Their torture style was more like ‘punch him until he bleeds’, which he knew plenty about.

Crutchie couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something different about this attack. Turning to Race, he winced at the prince’s back. It was marred with more whip marks than he could count. And Crutchie had always been good at arithmetic. “Race, you okay?” he asked his friend, already knowing the answer. 

“I’se fine, Crutch. What about youse?” Race responded. _Stupid self-sacrificing idiot!_ Crutchie thought, shaking his head at Race. Race noticed the shift in Crutchie’s mood and sat up. Of course, this caused him immense pain, but Race probably didn’t care. “What’s up?” he asked in a much softer voice than usual. _Pity_. Crutchie hated pity.

Turning away from his friend, Crutchie huffed out a small “Nothing,” in response. It was cruel of Crutchie to play with Race’s feelings, but he didn’t really care at this point. Race needed to see that Crutchie was more than his leg. 

It was at this time that Morris and Oscar decided to make a reappearance outside of the cage, because yes, they were still in that godforsaken cage. Crutchie glared at his ex-brothers. Okay, it’s all I can do right now, I still live with them. 

Morris cleared his throat in a rather disgusting way and stared at the two boys. “Mister Snyder requests a presence with His Royal Highness and the cr*pple,” he sneered. Crutchie hated the way he winced at Morris’s cruel words, but he couldn’t help it. A part of him still wanted to love his brothers. 

“Is we gettin up, or is he comin’ here?” Race asked, still retaining a level of snarkiness. Crutchie almost admired him. Almost. 

Oscar took a step forwards, feet slamming into the ground. “You comes to him. An’ he gave us special instructions,” Oscar said, removing something from a sack at his sides. The sound of metal clashing together filled the room, and Crutchie and Race shared a terrified glance at each other. 

“Hell no,” Race bit out, but there was no bite behind his words. The Delancey Dragons had won whatever sort of game they were playing. “I’d rather die,” he added, trying to seem brave. _Poor boy should’ve learned not to say stuff like that around these two_ , Crutchie thought, already predicting what Morris would do next. 

Morris pulled out his knife and brought it dangerously close to Race’s face. “I can do that too,” he laughed. There was a deep, disturbing fear inside of Race’s eyes, but Morris didn’t care. “Yer choice, princey,” he taunted. Race swallowed, debating what to do. 

After a few seconds of silence, Race held out his wrists. “Fine, do what ya need to,” he said, closing his eyes. Both dragons smiled, and Morris walked over to Race, manacles in his hand. Oscar did the same to Crutchie. The two boys cringed at the feeling of cold metal on their wrists. Morris pulled out another set of manacles and attached them around Race’s ankles. 

“We heard from a reliable source dat he likes ta run,” Oscar said, smirking another unholy smirk. Race looked at the two dragons suspiciously but didn’t say anything. Instead, he stood up, wincing in pain. “Still got the wounds from last night?” Oscar teased, “I thought ya had fun?”

If Crutchie hadn’t been in handcuffs, he would have socked his brother right then and there. “Don’t say that shit Oscar,” Crutchie bit out, showing a new, tougher side of himself. To be honest, he kind of liked it. “Or I’ll make ya regret it,” he added. Unfortunately, all of his bravery was quickly lost once the two brothers started laughing. 

“Sure, sure, we’se so sorry,” Morris said, exaggerating his words. Morris opened the cage door and grabbed Crutchie by the collar of his shirt. “Don’t make me remind ya of regret. Dontcha regret killing h—”

That was low. “Fuck you,” Crutchie bit out, barely containing her rage. “Fuck you fer that. It wasn’t my fault!” he said, trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince them. Oscar had to help Race up from the mattress and shoved him gently out of the cage. He seemed… scared. Now that Crutchie was really seeing it, Morris was scared too. 

As the two ‘prisoners’ were led across the cave, Crutchie could barely hear the whispered conversation between the Delanceys. 

“The King…”

“Trouble with…”

“Snyder says…” 

“We’se gonna get da girl...” 

It wasn’t very much context, but Crutchie could already tell that a shitshow was about to go down. He was walked over to one of the leather chairs that Snyder kept in his office. Morris sat him down and wrapped both the chair and his torso with some rope. 

Race, on the other hand, was led to a large mirror. Snyder came stalking out of some crevice in the cave. “Good morning, Prince Antonio,” he boomed. Race winced, but Snyder kept talking. “Today, someone close to you has asked to see you on our lovely magic mirror,” he continued. He snapped one of his fingers, and a familiar face appeared. 

Well, it wasn’t familiar to Crutchie, but it definitely was to Race. “Da— dad?” he stuttered out. “What are ya doin’ collaborating wit’ Snyder?” he said. 

Crutchie realized the person in the mirror was King Pulitzer, Race’s dad. He struggled to get out of his seat, before remembering that Morris had tied him to the chair. _Smart_ , Crutchie acknowledged,  _I didn’t know they had more than two brain cells._

Joseph Pulitzer’s booming voice sounded throughout the cave. “Didn’t you finally realize what happened, boy?” he said. ace gave him a confused look. “I thought you’d have dreamed it by now?” A look of realization hit Race, and his stance turned from confused to mad. “That’s better, I raised you to be smarter than that.”

“Why?” Race sobbed. He’d been driven nearly mad by his dreams alone. How could his father, his flesh and blood do this to him? “Why did ya do this? I ain’t never been a bother or nothin’! Ever since mama died, you’se been up my ass about somethin’ different each day! 

King Pulitzer scoffed, giving his son an unimpressed look. “Because I can, boy. I’m the most powerful man in the kingdom, I don’t need to worry about a disobedient prince.”

Race glared at his father with fire in his eyes. Years of hurt, pain, and sorrow threatened to come bubbling out of him at any second. Maybe if he was still at the castle, he could have screamed at his father without fear of repercussion. But Race knew if he pulled that crap, he’d suffer at the hands of Snyder, Morris, and Oscar. “I ain’t disobedient. I’se is just a free soul,” Race said, repeating the words his mother always told him. 

“Free soul or not, it still makes me look bad. At least the staff doesn’t care about you enough to question it. And if they ask, I’ve said that you’ve taken a break,” Pulitzer responded, “Unfortunately, your sister is brighter than that. She and some of your servant _friends_ are coming to save you.” Race’s face lit up, but the king waved his hand in dismissal. “Upon their arrival, you are to tell them to go back without you.” 

“But the Delanceys—” 

“Don’t cut me off, boy!” Pulitzer yelled. “Katherine has a _future_ in this kingdom if she stopped being so righteous about everything. You _will not_ , I repeat, _will not_ allow her to save you. When they come to the cave, you will tell her that you like your new home, and wish to stay.”

“Dad please don’t—”

“If I have to hear about you from Mister Snyder again, I will come down there and escort you to the Refuge myself! Is that clear?”

Even though Race’s mind was spinning with ideas, comebacks, and questions, he didn’t want to give his father any more power over him. He’d spent years yearning for his father to pay attention to him again. Now, he realized, it was never coming back.

Swallowing back all of the bile in his throat, Race let out a soft “Yeah, dad.”

Pulitzer looked at Race like he was a piece of dirt. “Don’t call me father either.” 

“What?” Race barely managed to say. “What do you mean ‘don’t call me father’? I’se is yer kid, yer flesh and blood!” When Pulitzer didn’t respond, Race felt a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. “I is yer kid, right?”

The hurt in Pulitzer’s face said everything that the king couldn’t. “Don’t call me father, boy,” Pulitzer repeated. 

Race nodded his head and watched as the mirror went back to normal. That’s when he saw how bad he looked. His face was caked with dirt and blood, with tear tracks running through the grime. His blonde hair was becoming brown with dirt, and his body was half yellow, half purple at this point. He looked over at Crutchie, who just gave him a sympathetic smile. 

“I’se sorry, Racer,” Crutchie said, not sure what else to say in this situation. “I’se is so sorry you hafta deal wit’ that as yer father,”

Race looked paler than usual, even underneath all of that dirt. “He’s not my father anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I PROMISE ILL TIE UP ANY PLOT HOLES, I JUST REALLY LIKE ADDING ELEMENTS OF MYSTERY INTO MY STORIES  
> remember, comments make me happy, and lord knows i could use some happiness in my life.  
> i gotta go do my homework that i've been putting off all week.  
> peåçe 0u† b0¥ sçøu†s


	13. I Jumped Into An Abyss To Follow A Hot Fairy (but I'm not really regretting it)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Last Funny Chapter With Very Minimal Angst Before Everything Goes To Heck  
> Elmer likes Buttons, gets laughed at and comforts Katherine.  
> Romeo and Specs finally get together-ish  
> Jack and Spot have sibling discourse.  
> A Special Guest makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ummmm this ones a doozy kiddos.  
> i wrote this instead of writing thank you cards for hannukah gifts (i knOW IM BEHIND BUT DONT SHAME ME MY PARENTS ALREADY ARE)  
> some asshole crashed my chem class for a few min and i was just like "how did i not know who he is he was so lOUD"
> 
> as always.,.,.,. enjoy.,..,.,.,. or don't because you don't have to like every single fanfic.

Elmer was falling. He was falling into a dark abyss all because of some _stupid_ hot fairy. Well, also because all of his friends made him jump in. He remembered when his mom asked him if he would jump off a bridge if his friends did too. Well, now he knows that he _would_ in fact jump off of that hypothetical bridge. Because he had just jumped into an abyss.

For an inordinate amount of time, the eleven humans fell through the darkness, waiting for the cold embrace of death. But it never came. When Elmer finally opened his eyes, he realized he had landed on a mattress. Actually, it wasn’t a mattress, it was…

“Moss!” he screamed, excited at the appearance of a plant. “Guys! We landed on moss!” a few seconds went by without anyone saying anything. They were just waiting for Elmer to put the pieces together. “We’re alive!”

The entire group broke into laughter at this point, causing Elmer to pout a little. Albert poked his shoulder. “Oh, c’mon, we’se just jokin, right guys?” he said in between giggles. If that was Albert’s form of an apology, Elmer was _not_ impressed.

“Yeah. Just jokin,” Elmer spat back, becoming even grumpier as his friends continued to laugh. Specs noticed this, and put a hand on the gardener’s shoulder.

“Relax, they’se not makin’ fun of ya,” Specs reassured him. “They’se just laughin’ at yer thought process.”

Standing up from the very comfortable moss, Elmer shook his head. “That don’t make it any better,” he said. Even though Elmer was a ray of sunshine most of the time, he also liked to make people regret their bad decisions. Ignoring everyone else calling his name, Elmer walked off, turning into a corridor. Unfortunately, he bumped directly into…

 _Hot fairy_ , he thought. “Hi,” the fairy said, sticking out a hand, “I didn’t get ta introduce myself to ya earlier. I’se is Buttons,” he explained. There wasn’t any mockery in his voice, no teasing tone. “Why’d ya walk away from yer friends? Youse is in a new place, after all.”

Elmer sighed, looking at a wall. He moved over to said wall, and slid down to sit on the ground. “They’s always makin’ fun of me,” he said. Buttons looked slightly confused. “Mostly it’s just my love of plants.”

“But Jojo likes plants too!”

“I knows, but I ain’t scary like Jojo is. I’se is… I’se is…” Elmer trailed off, trying to think of the right word to describe himself. There were so many, but they all sounded so… bad. Finally, Elmer found the word. “Silly…”

Buttons shook his head. “Just cause you ain’t scary don’t mean you’se is silly,” Elmer tilted his head in curiosity. “I mean, is Mush scary?” he asked. Elmer shook his head, “But he ain’t silly neither. Ya can’t let these words define ya,” Buttons reassured, putting his hand on Elmer’s shoulder. Only this time, it didn’t feel like an act of pity. It felt like a friendship.

“I knows, it’s just hard sometimes,” Elmer responded, finally finding the words to say. “I don’t feel like I’se is supported like the rest. Why do they make fun of my love fer plants, but not Finch’s love fer birds?” he was working himself into another frenzy.

Just as Buttons was about to calm Elmer down, another fairy came over to him. The new fairy whispered in Button’s ear, and Buttons stood up. “Aw shit, I gotta go, Elmer. Maybe someone else can help ya out. Wish I could stay, but duty calls. But it was real nice talkin’ to ya,” he said, waving goodbye as he disappeared down the corridor.

Luckily, a few seconds later, Princess Katherine walked over. Elmer didn’t really know her, but she seemed nice enough. She took a seat next to Elmer, and sat there in silence for a few seconds. “I don’t know how to apologize, I never needed to before,” Katherine blurted out after a minute or two. It was rather blunt of her to say so, but she seemed genuine. “I’m sorry that they laughed at you. I’m sorry that I dragged you on this quest for no reason. I’m sorry that we got taken hostage by fairies. I’m sorry,” she said, on the verge of tears.

But Elmer wasn’t ready to emotionally support her yet. Just kidding, of course he was. If he lived in a world where children were sorted by qualities into color-coded groups, he’d be in the loyal category. “It ain’t yer fault, Princess,” Elmer said.

“Call me Katherine, please.”

“Well then, it ain’t yer fault, Katherine. I’se is here because I wanna save Race. Not because I was forced to come. You don’t have to be sorry for the things you didn’t even do,”

Katherine sighed, leaning back against the wall. “See, that’s the problem. I feel like I’ve got to apologize for _every single thing_ that goes wrong, or else I haven’t fixed it,” she sniffled, “And oh, I’m making the conversation about myself again, aren’t I? I’m sorry, Elmer, this is supposed to be about you.”

Putting his hand on her shoulder, repeating what Buttons did, Elmer smiled at her. The moment is quick, but sincere. “I’m fine. It’s fine, but we’re burning daylight here. We should probably get back to the others,” he said, trying to bring Katherine back to the issue at hand.

“You’re absolutely right. Let’s head back to the group!” Katherine said, her mood switching faster than a girl changes clothes. She began to walk out of the corridor, towards the group. Elmer stood up, but didn’t begin to walk. Katherine turned around, motioning for him to come. “Come on, Elmer, we need you too!” she exclaimed.

After a few seconds of just standing there, Elmer followed the princess back to the group. When he arrived, he noticed that they had all split up, and were searching different areas of the cave. He didn’t know if it qualified as a cave, but that seemed like the most likely option, so that’s what he would call it. Albert walked over to him, a guilty look on his face. “Finch explained why ya left, an’ I just wanted ta say…” he paused, hand rubbing the back of his neck, “That I’se is sorry,” he finished, causing Elmer to smile.

“Ya doofus, I forgave ya the minute I left. I just needed some time alone,” Elmer said, before clapping Albert on the back. “Now let’s get lookin,” he said.

It was at this time that Buttons, Mush and Jojo walked out with another fairy. They were all wearing red, and seemed to have an absence of shirtsleeves. Spot Conlon looked particularly offended, as that was _his_ style. But even he could admit these newcomers were pulling it off.

In the center of the group, there was a boy with an eyepatch. But it wasn’t Blink. No, this boy was _ripped_ , with sandy blonde hair. “Hi, I’se is Roger, an’ youse is in Brookland now,” he said, motioning to the new fairy. ”This is Tommy Boy, ‘e don’t like speakin’ sometimes,”

Spot ruffled at that statement. “Excuse ya, but Brooklyn already exists, I should know, I’se from there,” he spat out, clearly offended with the similarities he shared with Roger. “Youse is like a fake version of me!”

Roger stepped closer to Spot. “I said Brook _land_ , not yer precious Brooklyn. Plus, you’se is the fake version of me! I’se got way more muscle than you,”

“You wanna go?” Spot demanded, raising his fists. “Cause I can go right now in front a’ all these people right now. Can you do that?” Spot asked, sounding like a small child who also ran a gang. Roger looked just about ready to fight Spot, when Jack popped out Jack popped out of the cluster of humans, and stared at Spot.

“Youse is Brooklyn?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Just didn’t know,”

Roger glared at the two of them, causing both Spot and Jack to stop their discussion. “We can have siblin’ fights later, ya needs to explain what youse is doin’ here.”

“Well, if you could locate Romeo, I’se is sure he’d tell ya all about what happened,” Specs said. He could have easily told Roger what happened, but he wanted to see the fairy again. He’s a simple man with simple desires, like seeing the fairy that kidnapped you again. “He’s the reason we’se here.”

Because convenient timing exists in Brookland, Romeo came walking in at that very moment. “Sup y’all,” he said, finger-gunning at Specs. Specs may or may not have blushed a small amount, but that isn’t really important. Turning to Roger, Romeo began to explain what happened. “These fuckers came into the forest so I took ‘em hostage…”

“Why?” Roger asked, the exasperation in his voice clear.

Romeo looked back at Specs. “The one with the glasses is hot?” he said, aggressively shrugging his shoulders to show off his unique and quirky side. Specs nearly fainted. But because they have to have at least two people with common sense on every quest, he settled for grabbing David’s arm like a koala.“I’m not sorry though, y’all don’t call me Romeo fer nothin.” None of the fairies looked surprised at this, which implied that Romeo held people hostage a lot. But hey, Specs was _finally_ going to get some.

Before Specs could get some, Roger put his fingers in his mouth and gave out the loudest whistle you’ll ever not hear. “Why was ya in my forest?” Roger asked, walking over to Jack. Nobody knows why he chose Jack, because honestly, everyone knows that boy is an idiot.

Jack looked over to Spot, who started speaking. “Don’t ask him, he’s as dumb as a rock,” he started, ignoring Jack’s indignant response of ‘hey’. “Essentially…”

“My best friend got kidnapped by dragons and we need to get him back!” Albert interrupted. Spot just stared at the redhead for a few minutes before he nodded in agreement. “It was going fine at first, but I think we need help.” The rest of the group protested for a few seconds, before realizing that Albert was actually right. They did need help, because literally nobody had a clue what they were doing.

There was a familiar gleam in Roger’s eyes at the mention of dragons. “I can’t send all of my boys wit’ ya, but I’ll send Mush an’ Blink, Romeo, Buttons an’ Jojo ‘long with,” he said. All five fairies high fived, and ran over to the human side. It was no coincidence that Buttons stood near Elmer, and Romeo stood near Specs. Okay, he was standing _on_ Specs. Mush and Blink stood somewhat close to Finch and Albert, but the two couples kept their distance.

Spot looked around, and did a quick headcount. His original quest featured himself, Jack and Smalls. Now, they’d added a princess, a handmaiden, a servant, a librarian, a birdkeeper, a gardener, a wizard, a ten year old, and five fairies. That was… _holy crap_ … 16 people. The entire group looked perplexed at Spot’s surprised face, before they all started counting each other. Spot turned around, and said “Let’s go,” before realizing that he doesn’t know his way around anywhere. Turning to Blink, he asked, “Where do we go?”

This caused the fairies to laugh, and walk down the corridor that Elmer had sat in earlier. The group managed to climb up several sets of stairs without falling over like dominoes. By the time they reached above ground, it was the late afternoon.

The group had now abandoned all carts, carriages and horses. Of course, the horses freed themselves, and ran home to their stables. They walked in a sort of clump formation. David and Romeo led the way with their magic, flanked by Sarah, Specs, and Jojo, who had pretty decent fighting skills. Behind them were Elmer, Buttons, Les and Smalls. As it turns out, Elmer was great with the kids. Next came Jack, Finch (with Papes), Albert, and Katherine. Finally, Mush, Blink and Spot finished up in the back.

It must have taken them the rest of the day and into dusk to climb up to the Dragons Den, but they finally made it. Just when they had reached the cave that Papes squawked at, the moon came out. Les and Smalls were both on someone else’s back, sleeping soundly. That’s when it hit the rest of them that they needed sleep.

They found a non-dragon contaiminated cave. The process for selecting said cave consisted of both David and Romeo sending blasts of light into caves, and running like hell. If a dragon didn’t come out, they were safe. After far too long of a journey, Race’s saviours fell asleep to the sound of dripping water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear i dont think roger is discount spot, the costumes just looked more alike than blink and roger. so yeah.
> 
> this is the last fun chapter before EVERYTHING. GOES. TO. SHIT. 
> 
> We have one more chapter that'll be Race/Crutchie-centric, and then there's a two part finale. After that, we mosey on into the sequel that I've already planned out, and a few more short fics because I want all of the characters to get an equal amount of time. Let me know if there's a character you want to see more of, because I'm pretty biased....


	14. I Knew My Family Was Kinda Messed Up (but I thought we were better than this)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Race and Crutchie deal with family issues, magical mirrors and drunk spiders.  
> Morris tries to get a redemption arc with two chapters left.
> 
> TW: Falling on the ground due to magical illness, Slapping people, Grabbing Someone By The Hair, Naughty Words and Alcohol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooo i might have gotten like -3 hours of sleep and im dead by now pls kill me  
> this chapter includes a flashback from an abandoned crutchie oneshot, that i changed a little  
> i spent all day with a mechanical pencil inside of my bun, and forgot it was there for a while.  
> yeah.
> 
> enjoy... or don't because you get to choose who you wanna be in this world. its up to you to decide your fate.

Race had no idea what the fuck just happened. He felt like he should know, but he didn’t. So, he turned to Snyder, a look of pure confusion on his face. “What the fuck just happened?” he asked his captor. No response. “No, I’m being serious here, what just happened?”

Snyder stalked over to Race and gave him a hard slap across the face. The prince stumbled to the ground, helpless in his bonds. The spider laughed and picked the prince up by the hair. “Don’ disrespect me ‘gain,” he slurred, “Or I’se gonna send ya to da Refuge.” If Race had looked back at Crutchie, he would have seen the boy shiver in fear.

“What’s the Refuge?” Race asked, very confused how a word that means ‘safe place’ could be a threat. Or used as a proper noun.

The laugh that came from Snyder sounded like it emerged from deep within his throat, rough with years of smoking cigars and drinking heavily. “Da worst place you’se evah been an’ evah will be. It’s da prison I run durin’ da day. It’s why I ain’t here durin’ the daylight. I made an exception fer ya.”

“What does he want?” Race demanded despair bleeding through his voice.

“I don’ fuckin know what da king wants, don't’ ask me!” Snyder slurred, already sounding very intoxicated. Race noticed that it was still early in the morning. “I ain’t ‘is royal trans… translate… translator,” he said, slumping around the cave. This looked very awkward, especially considering the fact that Snyder is an actual spider. “Ya wan’ answers? Go find ‘em!” Snyder stalked away, solidifying his place as the villain who doesn’t do anything.

Still very perplexed, Race turned to where Crutchie, Morris, and Oscar were standing. Crutchie was sitting in a chair, tied down, watching everything. Morris and Oscar stood at his sides. They might have had a terrible relationship, but at least the feeling was mutual. Morris and Oscar hated Crutchie just as much as Crutchie hated Morris and Oscar. He needed to leave, and fast. Pulling his arms against the handcuffs, Race tried not to cry as the metal cut his wrists open. But it was too late because Race was already crying. “Lemme leave!” he screamed, throat raw with emotions, “Lemme go!”  
Morris and Oscar stalked over, with Morris picking Race up. He slung the prince across his shoulders and walked him back to the cage, where Morris let Race down on the mattress. “If ya keep pullin, you’se is only gonna hurt yerself,” Morris whispered. “Snyder’s orders ta keep ya in these, not ours.”

“Why are ya bein’ nice to me?” Race said his voice barely above a whisper. But it was the loudest he could speak right now. “Why now, an’ not before?” he was growing angrier at Morris’s kindness. Sure, he should have been thankful, but it took too long. “What changed?”

Morris sighed, his face now looking decades older than he actually was. “Because even our pop wasn’t cruel ‘nough ta do what yer pop did. Nobody deserves dat,” the dragon explained. “This ain’t an apology or anythin, I just wanted ya to know dat we was under direct orders. Try ta find mercy when yer friends beat us into the ground.”

The sigh that came out of Race was so sarcastic that Morris almost punched him. “Yer tellin me, that even though ya beat me up sev’ral times, beat yer brudda up, publicly humiliated me, an’ forced me ta see my father, ya want me ta have mercy? Even though I said ‘stop’ an’ ‘please’ an’ ‘no’ a million times, ya just thought that what ya did was wrong now?” Morris had an ashamed face, and he was looking at the ground. “Hell no, get the fuck out of my cage,” Race finished.

The dragon walked away, ashamed at the dressing down he’d just received. Race began to cry to himself when he felt a part of the mattress sink. It was Crutchie. The boy put a hand on Race’s shoulder and began to rub the area. Immediately, Race felt his muscles loosen, and his tears dry.

“Thanks, Crutch.” Race murmured, afraid to say more.

Crutchie nodded and laid back on the mattress. “Somethin’ like that happened ta me too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it happened back when I was young…” Crutchie paused, afraid to say what came next. Race gave a small nod, prompting the boy to continue. “I used ta be able ta use my leg back then,” Crutchie said. “It must’ve been years ago by now. I was a young boy, pro’lly round the age of eight, or maybe nine. Ya know that was when polio became real big in the place I lived. It was the small town of Soho…”

_The two boys had been running around outside of their home, doing the things kids do. It was a normal Sunday afternoon, the only day of the week that the boys didn’t have chores. They were playing tag, when all of a sudden, Charlie fell._

_Normally, this would be fine, the other boy would help him up, and Charlie would be up and running once again. But this time, he just… stopped moving, his body lying limp on the cobblestones. The other boy was horrified at the sight of his youngest brother on the ground, immobile._

_“Mama!” young Morris had screamed towards the tiny, Soho apartment. “Mama, come quick!” he said, tears running down his face. “Charlie’s not doin’ so hot! He ain’t movin!”_  
_Margarethe Delancey came running down the stairs, hurrying towards her two children. She knew exactly what had happened, and as much as she hated to admit it, there wasn’t much she could do. “It’ll be alright, Liebling,” she soothed her children, picking up her youngest from the cobblestone street._

_Morris followed her back to the apartment, not wanting to let go of her flowing skirt. Once they reached the apartment, Morris ran inside. He quickly returned with another boy, who looked only a year older. “Ossie, Charlie fell!” Morris wailed into the other boy's arms. As he cried, his figure changed to match a dragon more than a human boy._

_Setting Charlie on the overstuffed couch, Margarethe ran over to the icebox, removing a few ice cubes. She wrapped them in a cloth and set them over Charlie’s forehead. “He’s probably gotten polio,” she told her other two sons. “All we can do is pray that he’ll be fine.”_

_“Mama, I don’t feel so good,” Charlie whispered from the couch. “Will I be okay?” he asked, tears streaming down his freckled face. “I can’t feel nothin.”_

_The other three surrounded Charlie, Morris transforming into a dragon. “You’ll be fine, Charlie,” Margarethe said, knowing that was the biggest lie she’d ever told. “You’ll be fine.”_

_By nighttime, Charlie gained movement in most of his body, besides his leg, which remained as stubborn as ever. When Ernst Delancey returned from his job to find his only human son on the couch, immobile, he knew what he had to do. Ernst never really wanted the human boy, but he loved Margarethe. Thankfully, the other two were half-dragon, so they could transform._

_“Send ‘em out ta Wiesel,” Ernst said to his wife. She stared at him, face wet with tears. “He’ll keep ‘em safer than us,” Ernst added, lying through his teeth._

_That night, when Oscar, Morris, and Charlie left the house for the last time, Ernst didn’t cry. He didn’t feel sad that his children were leaving. Margarethe was the one who drove the carriage, she was the one who carried Charlie into Wiesel’s house. It was her who kissed each boy goodbye. That night, was the last night Ernst or Margarethe would see their children._

Crutchie gave a small sob, coupled with a tear falling down his cheek. “I miss her sometimes,” Crutchie said, his voice filled with nostalgia. “I’se always wondered what happened ta her, but I never could figure it out. Sometimes when I was younger, I’d look at the magic mirror, an’ consider usin’ it ta find ‘er.

That’s when Race realized that the two of them had more in common than they realized. They were abandoned by family, had mean fathers, and loving… “Mama!” Race exclaimed, sitting up from the bed. Crutchie, who was still lying down, shot Race a confused look. “Dad hates me because of Mama!”

“How d’ya know?”

“Because Dad didn’t start being mean to me until Mama died. Which means that something happened between the two of them…” Race said, his mind racing. Little fractured memories were playing in his head, flashing his mother’s face everywhere. It’d been too long since he’d seen her. Even though he thought he was fine without her, he missed her. All he wanted was for everything to be normal again.

The two boys stared at each other, hope in their eyes for the first time in days. “Somethin’ tells me we best get ta sleep an’ hope we get memories,” Crutchie said, pointedly. Race nodded and laid back down. “Night, Race.”

“G’night Crutchie.”

“You’ll be here tomorrow?”

“I’ll be here tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> imma post this, take a shower and then sLEEP OH MY LORD IM SO TIRED  
> it might be a few more days until the finale, because i want it to be an epic mma smackdown  
> then imma do a where are they now/parody stuff that i've been saving  
> THEN we move onto the sequel (i feel like a fancy author now, oml), which has a confirmed title of: "Sons and Kings (of all things)"
> 
> stuocs yob tuo ecaep (peace out boy scouts)


	15. The Rescue Mission I’m On Saved More People Than I Thought (but one of them is cute so I’m not complaining) PART ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The MMA smackdown part one, where everyone plans to beat the absolute shit out of Snyder, Morris and Oscar. Katherine and Spot scream to wake people up, the Delanceys/Snyder are terrible at kidnapping organization and Spot scares the crap out of everyone by casually mentioning the anthropomorphic spider at the very last second. 
> 
> Rated Teen for: Excessive Swearing, Beating the fuck out of people who deserve it , A couple who has an issue with PDA and the abuse of the word 'anthropomorphic'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOP LETS FUCKIN GO KIDS, it tOOK ME SO GODDAMN LONG TO WRITE THIS
> 
> This chapter kept getting interrupted by my want to read fanfiction. Y'all are hella good at writing too! I went and did a Human Interaction on Saturday too, which also adds to my absence from AO3. But I'm not dead. You'll need to stab a stake through my heart to do that.
> 
> Try to guess the point where i went and read blush smut, then grossed myself out bc i hate smut but i still read it bc im a dumb fuck.
> 
> ALSO ALSO: there's a reference to a very popular tv show in here. and probably a few more references i tend to do that
> 
> enjoy or dont but i hope you enjoy bc i feel a need to please everyone

Spot couldn’t sleep. Not with the ever-persisting drip of water next to his ear. Not with the thoughts plaguing his mind. So he did what he always does when he can’t sleep. He went outside and looked at the stars. Call him sappy, but he believed that the stars were the only thing that kept him grounded sometimes. Even though he couldn’t always see them, they were always there.

Right now, he was looking at Corona Borealis, which had always been his favorite for some odd reason. While he was looking at it, he heard an incredibly loud scream from the cave next to him. “Fuck,” Spot whispered to himself, before looking back at the cave. It wouldn’t be that hard to sneak out and explore. “Guess I’se is doin’ this,” Spot said quietly, before tiptoeing towards the neighboring cave.

It was dark in that cave, but he could hear three sets of equally loud snores. Spot lit a dim candle and searched the cave. A large spider slept in a web on the ceiling, with two dragons underneath. “The Dragon’s Den,” Spot said, before realizing his mistake. Luckily, nobody had woken up… yet.

Strewn about the cave were broken bottles, weapons coated in blood, and a chair with fingernail marks in the armrests. It was becoming glaringly obvious that the cave was dangerous. Spot crept over to a desk, and saw a pile of gold, along with a few letters. He would’ve taken the gold, but one of the dragons snored, reminding him that he shouldn’t steal. It was a stealth mission.

Even still, he saw two pairs of keys that were marked with tiny keyrings that said “The Cage”. Honestly, if this was the way that most secondary and tertiary villains organized their things, Spot would have to have a talk with them about making it harder for him. As he sighed at their incapacity to hide important things, Spot saw a gleam of metal on the other side of the cage.

He turned around and saw a very large, metal cave, with two figures inside of it. Grabbing the keys, Spot ran across the cave and arrived right in front of the cage. “Hello?” he whisper-shouted, hoping someone would hear him. “Hello, my name is—” Spot stopped as soon as he saw who was inside the cave. Two boys were laying on a thin mattress. One sat up and stared at Spot.

“What?” the boy whispered, “Dis ain’t real,” he said, shaking his head.

Spot wanted to shake his head too. With the amount of dirt, grime and blood caked on the boy, Spot should have never recognized him. But he’d seen those eyes whenever they walked down the castle, back when Spot was a guard. He knew those eyes. “Prince Antonio?” he asked, stepping closer to the cave.

“Wh— who are you?” the prince asked, his voice hoarse. Spot came to the terrifying conclusion that Antonio was the one screaming. “How d’ya know my real name?” Antonio continued, clearly frightened.

Spot had been the one to calm Smalls down from her nightmares, he knew what to do. “I’se Sean Conlon,” he said, using his formal name, “An’ I’se is here ta save ya. Just… not right now.”

Another boy sat up, staring at Spot. “Oscar, I knew you was short, but not that short!” he said, before looking at Prince Antonio with a conspiratorial look. “Hey Race, why’s Ossie here? He ain’t supposed ta be here, he’s o’er wit’ Snyder! Unless…” the boy looked back to Spot, “Is ya here ta join our side, Ossie?”

“He ain’t Oscar, Crutchie. He’s a friend,” Prince Antonio… or Race replied. “Go back ta sleep.” The boy laid back down with a satisfying plop before Race turned back to Spot. The prince began to shake his head rapidly, working himself into a frenzy. “Ya gotta leave, Pulitzer said…” He trailed off, leaving Spot to wonder what Antonio was going to finish with. “Ya can’t be here. Take Kat, tell ‘er I love ‘er, an’ go back,” Antonio said, before waving his hand at Spot. “Go!” he whispered.

Turning around was one of the hardest thing Spot did that night. Walking back to the cave and falling asleep was even harder. His brain was churning with rescue ideas, plans to save Antonio. No matter what the prince had said, Spot wasn’t leaving until that boy was free from that cage.

Back when he was a knight, he pulled more than a few all-nighters. He wasn't’ that out of practice, and there was no way in hell that he was sleeping now. So Spot did the only thing he could think of doing. He planned. Just outside of the cave, he mapped out every step of the mission, and when he was done, he walked over to Specs.

“Ay, nerd, wake up!” he whispered in Specs’ ear, trying not to wake Romeo up as well. Within a few minutes, Specs was up and staring at Spot with the hatred of a thousand suns. “We need ta plan some things,” Spot said, pointing to the little set up he had made for himself. It was just outside of the cave, with a hand-drawn map of the cave, and figurines to represent people.

Specs stared at Spot for a few seconds, before sighing quite heavily. “Yeah, it’s not like it’s 3 in the morning…” Specs paused, looking around, “Is it 3 in the morning?” Spot shrugged, causing Specs to sigh again. “Okay, let’s go,” Specs said, carefully propping Romeo’s head onto a rock. Yes, Romeo had fallen asleep in Specs’ lap, no, they were not doing the dirty. The two walked outside to Spot’s little planning area. “What’d ya have planned so far?”

“Okay, so what happens is we get someone to sneak in before all o’ us. Then, we go in an’ crash their party. Whoever snuck in first gets Antonio, an’ this other boy out,” Spot said, in one breath. “After we kick the spider’s ass—”

“Wait, who’s the spider?” Specs asked.

“The giant anthropomorphic spider that’s in the cave as well. Anyways—”

“I’se is not gonna fight a fuckin giant spider!” Specs exclaimed, clapping his hands on Spot’s shoulders, and shaking the smaller boy violently. “Doin’ shit like that’s just askin’ fer death!”

Spot rolled his eyes at the librarian’s antics and shook his head. “Fine, I’ll fight the spider. You can take the dragons,” he said, an unholy smirk on his face.

“D— dragons?” Specs asked, which was very weird for him to do. Especially considering the fact that he discovered where Race had been kidnapped. By dragons. For a few seconds, the two boys just stared at each other, before Specs came to a brilliant realization. “Oh yeah, dragons!” he said, much more confident. “Okay.”

Spot had a very large urge to break the fourth wall and stare at an imaginary audience like he was in a documentary about a paper-selling business. But he didn’t do that. Instead, he rolled his eyes for the millionth time and shook his head. “C’n ya go get Katherine?” Spot asked, “I don’t wanna wake ‘er up an’ scare ‘er,” he said. That was a complete lie. He knew that Katherine would be pissed at the early morning wake up call, and he didn’t want to die… yet.

After a few minutes of waiting, Katherine stormed outside, followed by a very terrified Specs. “What the fuck do you want?” Katherine growled at Spot. Yes, she actually growled. “It better be important, or I’m going to murder you.”

Holding up his hands in the universal ‘surrender’ motion, Spot smiled, knowing how to play his cards. “It’s nothing,” he said, waiting for Katherine to get upset. She started to grind her foot against the ground, looking like a bull that was about to charge. “Unless ya wanna know some stuff ‘bout Antonio. Went an’ saw ‘im a few hours ago,” Spot added.

It was the mention of her kidnapped brother that turned Katherine from a raging animal into a concerned older sister. “Is… is he okay? Have they hurt him? Who took him?” she was blurting out questions like there was no tomorrow.

“Yeah, he’s hurt. But okay,” Spot responded, “I’se got a plan, but I think we’ll need to act on it soon.”

“How soon?” Katherine asked, never one to mince words.

“Like… an hour soon,” Spot said. Specs and Katherine both nodded, and walked back into the cave. Katherine promptly cupped her hands around her mouth and started to scream.

“WAKE! UP!” she screamed, punctuating each word with a pterodactyl shriek. Like clockwork, everyone in the cave sat up and stared blankly at Katherine. Well, almost everyone. Jack Kelly was still, somehow asleep. Before Katherine could go yell in his face, Spot gave her a look that said ‘my turn’. She nodded, and Spot walked over to Jack.

He started aggressively clapping over his brother’s head and screamed as loud as he could. “FRANCIS SULLIVAN WAKE THE FUC K U P!” It worked, because Jack was up in two seconds, ready to murder a bitch. Then he realized that it was Spot who woke him up, and Spot is stronger than him. Like... a lot stronger than him. So Jack settled on flipping Spot off.

Specs gave everyone a look filled with pity and stood next to Katherine. “We’se got a plan fer savin’ Race. Or Antonio, dependin on who ya is an how ya know 'im,” Specs explained, before motioning for everyone to walk outside, around the planning map. “I’ll let Spot take over,” he said, motioning for Spot to step in front of the group.

“First things first, Smalls ‘n Les, go back in the cave,” Spot said. The two children groaned, but the look on Spot’s face didn’t allow argument. After a few minutes of some helpful glares from Sarah and Spot, and whining the two kids finally headed in. Both Spot and Sarah made mental notes to not take their siblings with them the next time they have to rescue a prince from dragons. If there was a next time.“Next, is there anyone who don’t wanna be involved in da fightin?” Spot asked, not really surprised when Mush, Albert, and Elmer raised their hands. “Y’all good at first aid?” he added.

Mush and Elmer nodded, before the three went over to give kisses/hugs to their respective partners. Finch handed Papes the Pigeon over to Albert and gave the bird a small kiss on its head. Albert also got a kiss, but on his cheek. Elmer and Buttons gave each other an unusually long hug. Mush and Blink started… well, they started… okay, they started… violently french kissing each other. Again. But this time, Mush got just a bit too into it, and Buttons had to put his hands over Elmer’s eyes.

“Stop it, get some help!” Jack screamed, covering his eyes as well. The couple separated, and both Blink and Mush shrugged unapologetically. “Y’all need Jesus!” Jack added.

Both David and Spot looked at him before David spoke up. “I've literally seen you hang from a celing for art and drink paint water. Multiple times. Don't talk to me about needing Jesus,” he deadpanned. The look on Jack's face was priceless, and the artist/paint drinker started to sputter like a fish out of water. "Jack, just... don't," David added, causing Jack to stop. Spot made another mental note to harness the powers that David has over Jack. Maybe he could  _finally_ stop his brother from doing a bunch of dumb shit, like drinking paint water. 

Everyone looked at Blink and Mush, who were locked in their weird embrace/kiss. “Okay, thank you very much, both of you. Now, Mush, go into the cave and for god’s sake, don’t pull that shit around the children!” Sarah scolded. The couple looked like they were about to protest, but Sarah pointed at Elmer, who’s eyes were still covered by Buttons. Under Buttons' hands, Elmer looked very confused, like a child who had accidentally been brought to a city during a nude parade. Albert grabbed Mush’s hand and led the fairy into the cave. He was followed by Elmer, who looked very traumatized.

After everyone stared at each other for three minutes straight, Spot spoke up. “Who here’s good at sneakin?” he asked. Nobody raised their hands. “Okay, I’se is gonna sneak in, then. That leaves… Jack, Katherine, Specs, Finch, David, Sarah, Jojo, Romeo an’ Blink to split up into three groups,” Spot said, doing some mental math, playing matchmaker too. “Jack, David an’ Jojo will take the short dragon. He don't look too tough. I thinks it'd be best if David used his magic, an' Jojo an' Jack punch the shit out of him." The three boys walked away from the group to begin talking about strategies. 

“Okay, Specs, Finch an’ Romeo can take the other dragon. He looks a little tougher, but I think wit' Romeo's magic an' Finch's choking capabilities, y'all will be fine. Specs, I don't knows yer strength, but I think you c'n find somethin' ta do,” Spot said, before looking at the remaining three. “Which means that Sarah, Katherine an’ Blink take on the giant anthropomorphic spider.”

Blink looked pissed. “I’m sorry, the what?” He started to crack his knuckles menancingly, doing them all at once instead of one at a time. "What the fuck did you just say, Spot?" Blink demanded, walking closer to Spot. 

If Spot was Jack, he probably would've run away. But he was Spot Conlon, and Spot Conlon doesn't back down. Puffing out his shoulders, and casually flexing his arms, Spot looked Blink dead in the eyes.  “The giant anthropomorphic spider.”

Sarah and Katherine both flipped him off at the same time, creating a very weird twin/chaotic lesbian vibe between the two. Sarah looked like she was going to bitchslap Spot. "Sean. Conlon." She stepped closer to Spot, which caused Blink to jump back a bit. "I know where you live," Sarah said. 

"And I know where ya lives too!" Spot replied, before turning away from the trio. He started to head over to the Dragon's Den, but decided he should give one last parting speech. “I believe in youse! Don't fuck up!” Spot added. Everyone glared at him. Even Buttons. “Good luck!” he added out to the group, hoping to save face before the mission. Spot started the extremely short walk to the Dragon’s Den. “Here goes nothin,” Spot whispered to himself, before stepping into the cave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wowweeee its been fun. there's one more chapter before i go on a lil mini oneshot spree, and then begin the sequel! whooop whooop!
> 
> Also, the reference to the nude parade actually happened. I was like 10 or something, and I went into downtown Madison with my mom and grandma. Then some woman with painted tits biked past, and the next thing i know, my mom has her hands over my eyes. 
> 
> i bought two more succulents at target, and they look like a lil whale and a lil hippo and i LOVE THEM. I also bought two bags of candy, which i ate in two days. ohh, and some wrapping paper to use as a poster for 5.95.
> 
> my friends made a 7 rings parody about me, so that's consumed my time for the most part.
> 
> peAce out boy ScoutS (hee hee i have the maturity of a 10 year old)


	16. The Rescue Mission I’m On Saved More People Than I Thought (but one of them is cute so I’m not complaining) PART TWO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The MMA smackdown actually happens, People Get What They Deserve, And Crutchie Calls Spot Short. Again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me while writing this as i eat mac and cheese "I HAVE TO WRITE THE FANFICTION!"
> 
> I've heard you, and given you the MMA smackdown that y'all deserve. This was actually going to be part of the previous chapter, but I realized i worded too much, so i split it up into two sections. I'm actually kinda proud of myself for pumping out two chapters within the span of like... a day. 
> 
> as always..,.,.e njoy or don.t.....

It was almost sunrise, but the dragons and spider weren’t up yet. Which was good, because if they were, it would have jeopardized the whole plan. Spot carefully crept through the cave, reaching the cave within a few seconds. The prince was still sleeping. He was still hot as hell, but he would’ve been even hotter without the dirt and blood on his body and in his hair. Spot debated whether he should wake the prince up or not, but his mini internal conflict/monologue was ruined by the other boy in the cage.

“Psst!” the boy whispered to Antonio. “Race, there’s a short guy here for ya!” the boy added. Spot couldn’t help but groan when the boy called him short. Honestly, he didn’t look an inch above 5’4. Which was the same height as Spot.

Antonio woke up, and his bright blue eyes locked with Spot’s brown ones. “You 'gain?" Antonio said, a bit confused with Spot's reappearance, "Get out.” Spot shook his head, which caused the prince to scoff, clearly very annoyed.

“I’se is here ta save ya. But not yet. I needs a hidin’ place, where’s a good one?” Spot explained. After a few seconds of careful consideration on Antonio's part, the prince turned to the other boy.

“Crutchie, where could he go?” Antonio asked the boy. The boy, who Spot assumed was called Crutchie pointed at a small area behind a giant stalagmite that Spot hadn’t noticed before. He crept over there and saw that it was the perfect hiding place. Giving an overdramatic wink to the two boys, Spot hid in that little area.

A few minutes passed when Spot heard loud clomping noises heading towards the cage. "Ay, cr*pple an' princey, ya doin' good?" a dragon asked quite loudly. It was clear to Spot that he was only putting on a show. The dragon got closer to the cage and lowered his voice. "I'se been told that yer gonna go to tha Refuge real soon by Snyder, but I don' know when. There really ain't much I can do now..."

Even though Spot couldn't see, he could tell that Antonio was rolling his eyes. "Morris, I'se already toldja, stop tryin ta get some sort of plea bargain!" Antonio exclaimed. "I ain't forgivin' ya!"

The dragon lowered his voice even more. "I'se is tryin ta help because I didn't wanna kidnap ya in tha first place. It was all Ossie an' Snyder. I'se tried ta be a lil nice, but it's hard. Char, ya understand, right?"

"Morris, stop. Please," Crutchie said. "Ya severed that link the day ya broke my crutch."

Morris sounded increasingly desperate as he begged with the two captives. "Please, I know you'se got people savin' ya. I'se just tryin' ta be self-preservin! Prince Antonio, have mercy on me, or whatever ya do!"

Another voice spoke up from across the cave. "Morris, stop talking to the prisoners, boy!" It was the spider. "Come o'er here, I need ta talk wit' ya."

Hesitantly, Morris walked away from the cage. Spot poked out from his little area and gave the boys a thumbs up. "Everything good?" Spot asked, a bit concerned for the two of them. But they both nodded. "Lemme know if ya needs somethin, or a knight in shinin armor," Spot said, before ducking back down out of view. There were stalactites dripping above him, driving him insane with the dripping. The constant dripping. That was all Spot had for hours, as Crutchie and Antonio kept their conversation low.

Until someone else walked over. Spot could tell by the silence near the cage that this someone terrified the two captives. Spot looked out from the stalagmite and saw the giant spider. Man, that thing gave him the heebie-jeebies. “I know Morris toldja ‘bout da Refuge. But I didn’t tell ‘em when ta scare ‘em. He’s gettin’ too soft on ya, an’ I don’ like it. But by the time this timer runs out, I’se is takin ya to tha Refuge fer good.”

The spider clomped away, and Spot looked at the two boys in the cage. “They’se is comin’ soon, I knows it,” Spot reassured them. It was at that moment that a crashing noise was heard, along with several screams. Popping out from his hiding place, Spot saw that the rest of his quest had joined him.

Katherine currently had a sword up against the spider’s neck, while the rest of the people were surrounding their assigned attackee. “Where the fuck is my baby brother!” Katherine yelled. Spot nodded his head out of sheer respect, before signaling to Katherine that Antonio was near him. “He better be safe you fucker!” Katherine added.

“Oh, he ain’t. Got all of these whip marks, n’ bruises…” Spot trailed off, hoping that his words would empower Katherine even more. Luckily, they did. The quest began to pound on the three villains. Spot could’ve gotten Antonio and Crutchie out in seconds, but he was too busy watching his friends beat the absolute shit out of a spider and two dragons.

Currently, Katherine was slashing her sword the spider in the face while screaming at him, pure rage imprinted on her face. Even though the spider was a terrible arachnid, Spot couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the thing. But then he turned back to Antonio, and all of that sympathy went away.

Sarah was just… stomping on his back, causing the arachnid to crash onto the floor. Blink was either tying up the spiders' limbs or breaking them. A small, sadistic part of Spot hoped that Blink was breaking the legs. Unfortunately, the screams from the spider didn’t match the screams of someone who’s just broken eight legs.

Meanwhile, over where the dragons were, some more chaos was going down. Romeo was using magic on the dragon he was assigned to, the shorter one. It looked like purple flames were surrounding the dragon. But instead of lighting the reptile on fire, he was laughing. Romeo winked at Spot, before mouthing the words “Tickle Spell”. Finch was doing what he always does to people. He was choking him, which added another tally to the “people Finch has choked list”. Specs was kicking the dragon, but he was doing these really high kicks where his leg touched his face. And the dragon’s face.

The final dragon was being… talked to? Jack and David were on either side of the dragon, yammering on about… oh… That’s when Spot realized that Jack and David talk so much that it could drive a man insane. Or a dragon. Luckily, Jojo was punching the dragon in the stomach repeatedly, so there was some physical violence. But he didn’t seem as badly bruised as the other two.

“Hey, Spot?”Antonio asked, “What the fuck is going on?” he added. “Like, seriously, is that my sister beating up Snyder? And are all of my friends joining her? Am I hallucinating? What the fuck!”

Spot didn’t know what to do, so he just nodded. “Yeah, I told ya there was a rescue mission fer ya. Now, let’s get ya out of here!” Spot said, before unlocking the door. Slowly, he helped the prince stand up and released him from his handcuffs and foot manacles. With the same key, he used to unlock the cage door. Spot didn’t have enough time to criticize the lack of organization that the kidnappers had so he mentally shoved that to the side. He turned back to the cage, the one Crutchie was still in.

“Bye Race, it’s been nice knowin’ ya,” Crutchie said, clearly sad to see the prince go. “I can’t leave ‘em. As much as I hate ‘em, we’se is family. No matter what.”

“Hell no!” Spot said, walking over to the boy. That’s when Spot saw the boy’s leg and realized that there was a very specific reason Crutchie was called Crutchie. “I ain’t leavin’ ya. But in order to take ya, I’se is probably gonna need to carry ya,” Spot explained.

Crutchie tensed, looking both pissed off and afraid at the same time. “If ya gotta carry me, give me a piggyback,” Crutchie said. Spot almost laughed, because that was the only way he was used to carrying people. His arms were thick, but he liked using his back. With that, Crutchie climbed on Spot’s back, and the three of them walked over to the exit.

“No!” a voice said. Spot whipped around and saw that the spider had gotten free, although he was badly bruised. “Ya can’t take them!” he screamed. The weight on Spot’s back was lifted, and he saw that one of the dragons had grabbed Crutchie. The other one had Antonio. “They’se is mine. Pulitzer paid me to—”

An inhumane shriek came from Katherine before she ran up to the spider. “He what?” she demanded. The spider didn’t respond, so Katherine jumped on his back. “My father is a fucking asshole, but you’re even worse!” Katherine screamed. Sarah threw her the sword, and Katherine plunged it into the spider’s head. As the spider’s body hit the floor, the two dragons released Crutchie and Antonio.

Spot turned to the two cowering reptiles. “Run. Get outta here. An’ don’t come back ever again,” Spot said, stepping closer to the dragons. “You ain’t wanted here, so leave.”

“B— but Crutchie’s our brudda!” the short dragon protested, picking up the boy by the back of his shirt. “We loves him, right Crutchie?” the dragon said, silently threatening Crutchie.

The tall dragon stared at the other two. “Crutch, if ya come wit’ us… we c’n find mama an’ papa,” he said, softly. “We c’n be a family ‘gain. C’mon, come wit’ us,” the dragon pleaded. But there was something about the way Morris said 'family' that made Crutchie realize something. His brothers never cared about him. They never had, and they never would.

As much as it pained Crutchie to say no, he still did it. “No. You’se ain’t my brudda,” Crutchie said. The rest of the group started to surround the dragons, who panicked for a few minutes, before flying off into the sky.

Katherine ran over to Antonio and gave him a big hug. “I missed you, Antonio!” Katherine exclaimed, releasing her brother after she noticed him wince from the contact.

“Call me Race now, Kath,” Race said, before turning back to Spot, “Can we get back to where you’se all is, because I’se is starvin!” Everyone laughed ~~and started clapping.~~

Even though it was a short walk, a lot of things happened. Jack and David kept whispering to each other about something. Nobody could really tell, but sometimes they’d look over at Crutchie, who was still on Jack’s back, and blush. Sarah and Katherine were holding hands, leaning on each other, Sarah holding Katherine’s sword at her side. Specs had Romeo on his back, and the fairy was clinging to the librarian like a koala.

Finch, Buttons, and Blink were the first in their cave, running up to hug their boyfriends. Except, Albert didn’t hug Finch. “Babe, where’s Race…” Albert started, not letting Finch reply, “Oh G-d, did they get him? He’s dead, ain’t he!” Albert made grabby hands for a hug, but Finch refused.

Because Race walked through the cave right at that moment. Albert ran over to his best friend, happier than ever. “Hiya Albie,” Race said, giving Albert a big hug. Albert reciprocated the movement, before giving Race a small bop on the head.

“Don’t do that ever again,” Albert said, looking Race in the eyes. “Ya scared the hell outta me!”

Race sighed, leaning into Albert. “It scared the hell outta me too! I was the one who got kidnapped for Christ’s Sake!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of love and support I've received on this story is amazing. You all have impacted my life in such a positive way. Every single hit, comment and kudos inspires me just a bit more. I'm super thankful for all of y'all. A month ago (yeah, it's hard to believe it's only been that short of a time), I had no idea what would happen if I posted something. I had so many scrapped ideas at that point, and I was sure this would end up the same way. I'm so glad I neglected my chores to write the first chapter, even if it did piss off my mom. 
> 
> This part of the story has been finished, but there's always more to tell. I've left hints of something more sinister happening within Pulitzer's mind, and the sequel will hopefully patch up all of those holes. Don't worry my Jack/David/Crutchie shippers, your time will come in the oneshots that I have planned. Yeah, I've got oneshots planned. 
> 
> Again, thank you all so much for reading this story, it's been one heck of a ride.
> 
> QuEsTiOn TiME: Should I give Morris a redemption arc and ship him with Jojo OR send him to his doom/to suffer for all of eternity???? It's ur choice kids!
> 
> And as always : pEaCe OuT bOy ScOuTs

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to TRY and update every Sunday, but that might be hard... I'm sorry.  
> I love comments and constructive criticism, so if you want to do that, I'd be super appreciative.  
> Peace out boy scouts!


End file.
